N.O.R.F Posted October 8, 2007 Very sad when people (Muslims) need TV ads telling them to stop abusing house maids. Messages of mercy An advertising agency in Saudi Arabia plans to air public service commercials to promote kinder treatment of domestic helpers in a country where reports of abuse of foreign workers are rife. The ads will air on Arab satellite television stations after the holy month of Ramadan said Kaswara al-Khatib, founder and chief creative director of Full Stop Advertising. The commercials were initially due to be aired during the fasting month but "people tend to be nice in Ramadan anyway, and we need to be nice to them (domestic staff) beyond Ramadan," Khatib said. Khatib said he put off the broadcasts also because he was concerned the message of mercy they are meant to send would get lost in the huge number of commercials that are aired during Ramadan. The three ads cost around $100,000 (dhs367,000) and were financed by a non-profit subsidiary of construction giant Saudi Binladin Group, the family-run business which was set up by the father of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. "We deal with helpers as if they are not humans and have no feelings," said the 37-year-old former electrical engineer. One of the commercials shows an employer abusing his maid and driver, both from Asian countries as are the bulk of servants working in Saudi Arabia. "You should thank God it's only two months," the employer says when the driver asks for two months of unpaid wages. Another ad shows a typical gathering of women having a meal and the hostess telling her Filipina maid - named Rahma, or "mercy" in Arabic - to "get out of my sight," Khatib said. In the third ad, viewers will see the feet of a housewife who is heard ordering her maid "not to sleep until the house is spotless" and the maid scrubbing the floor. Human rights groups have slammed the alleged abuse of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia, which currently hosts around six million expatriates. Reports of exploitation ranging from the withholding of salaries and passports to physical assault and sexual abuse are increasingly appearing in the local press. http://www.7days.ae/en/2007/10/08/messages-of-mercy.html Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
