‘Be nice to your maid,’ says new Saudi ads
One of the ads shows a typical gathering of women having a meal and the hostess telling her Filipino maid – named Rahma, or “mercy” in Arabic – to “get out of my sight,” said Kaswara al-Khatib, founder and chief creative director of Full Stop Advertising.
The ads will air on Arab satellite television stations after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, expected to end on Oct. 12, Khatib said.
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 told AFP.
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 aired during Ramadan, a month prized by advertisers as families huddle around their television sets.
The three ads cost around $100,000 and were financed by a non-profit subsidiary of construction giant Saudi Binladin Group, the family-run business set up by the father of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
Khatib said he was in contact with two Arab stations – Saudi-owned MBC and
One of the commercials shows an employer abusing his maid and driver, both from Asian countries as are the bulk of servants in
“You should thank God it’s only two months,” the employer says when the driver asks for two months of unpaid wages.
“He who has no mercy will not receive mercy,” says the ad, quoting the Hadeeth, or sayings of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed.
In another 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.
“Show mercy to those on earth, you will receive mercy from He who is in heaven,” goes the theme, also borrowed from the Hadeeth.
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