E-Marketing and the Image of Middle Eastern Consumers

Introduction and Statement of Purpose

Since the terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, American attitudes regarding the presence of Middle Easterners in the country have been subject to dramatic changes. Arab-Americans (those individuals and groups of Arabic ethnicity and largely of the Islamic faith) and Arab or Middle Eastern students and businesspeople temporarily in the United States have become objects of suspicion and, in some instances, of outright fear and hatred (A year of living nervously, 2002). Concerns regarding the possibility that Arab-Americans and Middle Easterners in this country are connected to terrorist organizations or intent upon doing damage to the United States and its citizenry have been expressed in various media and by many different groups or organizations (A year of living nervously, 2002).

Nevertheless, the growing number of members of this minority group living permanently or temporarily in the United States represents an important (and, in many instances, relatively affluent) consumer market segment (Gallop-Goodman, 2001). Consequently, creating an e-marketing campaign to enhance or improve the image of this market segment is a task worthy of consideration. As Gerda Gallop-Goodman (2001) commented several months prior to 9/11, the approximately 3.2million people of Arab descent living in the U.S. as citizens (plus t

cteristics of the supposedly "typical" Middle Eastern person - could be favorable to Al Queda or other terrorist, anti-American groups was commonplace. In fact, as The Economist (A year of living nervously, 2002) pointed out several months after the 9/11 attack, many Middle Easterners living in the U.S. were victimized by hate crimes or otherwise subjected to more subtle forms of discrimination or social stigmatization. Television commentator Bill O'Reilly (2004) addressed this issue on Fox News Channel in 2004, commenting that U.S. Congressman Peter King told the press that up to 85 percent of the Muslim community leaders in the United States were "irresponsible" for failing to give unequivocal support to the War on Terror and the invasion of Iraq undertaken by President George W. Bush and his Administration. King, speaking in an interview with O'Reilly (2004), characterized a substantial number of Muslim leaders in the U.S. as extremists, as direct threats to the integrity and security of the nation, and as likely supporters of terrorist such as Osama Bib Laden. King claimed that many Muslims living in the U.S. were involved in underground cells or at least funneling funds to overseas terrorist groups. O'Reilly (200