Sami Kharouf

ENG 2
Connelly
10/17/16
Advertisement Analysis- Are Muslim women oppressed?

Advertisements are used in media to try and persuade the audience to take notice in their
content. Advertisements may be utilized to sway ideals for the advertisers own benefits, whether
it may be for a product or a concept. Anywhere a person looks, he will always see some form of
advertisement. In fact, billboards, posters, fliers, and other print media are visible almost
everywhere. Basically, all these promotional materials aim to inform people about the existence
of a certain product or service. In addition to that, promotional materials like posters and
billboards seek to communicate a message to society, even if it may be something that can evoke
controversy. As seen in this ads content, it shows a woman wearing a burqa while its face
section implies a sense of imprisonment. This is showing the audience that women in the Islamic
world are being oppressed by having to wear the burqa to hide their face and body. What this
advertisement is not conveying to the audience is that the burqa is not a matter of oppression in

most of the Islamic world. The site that posted this ad, ishr.org, used suppressed evidence to
appeal to the audience (Cavender, 62). What people dont know is that although countries like
Saudi Arabia may enforce this due to more strict beliefs in the wording of the book, there are
many others that do not enforce this so strictly. Countries such as the U.A.E, Jordan, Palestine,
and other gulf countries within the Middle East are more lenient on the policy of wearing a
Burqa. The women willingly wear the burqa to be more modest about their beauty. However, in
the Islamic book, the Quran, it mentions the use of hijabs for women to cover themselves as a
way to be modest of their beauty. The women use the hijab as a headscarf that covers the hair
and neck for religious reasons. The use of burqa was never mentioned in the Quran, but it is
considered the extreme version of the hijab (Moore). The use of burqa was started from the
peoples cultural belief rather than from the religion itself since the word burqa was never
mentioned in the Quran. This ad is clearly ignorant in how Muslim women are treated in the
majority of the Islamic world.
The advertisement to stop the oppression of women in the Islamic world also uses the
fallacy of composition, inferring that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of
some part of the whole, to sway the audience into believing them (Cavender, 86). This fallacy is
inferring that women are oppressed because the media always shows how women are treated in
Saudi Arabia, which is strict in their cultural beliefs, rather than showing the women in other
Muslim countries. Their use of composition fallacy basically labels Muslim women in the
Islamic world always oppressed while in reality, they arent even oppressed because women have
the same rights as men in most Muslim countries. This use of fallacy would put false truths in the
mind of the audience, because it would sway the peoples views of the Muslim communities.

Their views would mix Saudi Arabias strict cultural beliefs with the Islamic worlds religious
beliefs together considering both the same, while in actuality, they are not.
This advertisement uses the rhetorical appeal of pathos, which is made to appeal to the
audiences emotions. The image shows of a woman behind prison bars carrying a heavy burden
of being oppressed behind her burqa, which shows the emotion its trying to convey to the
audience. This ad uses the peoples emotional fear of being oppressed by persuading the
audience to support their stance. As Islamophobia spreads in this world today, many people will
not acknowledge the truth of Islam regarding women. The main reason for ignorance towards
Islam is that people often fail to distinguish between culture and religion -- two things that are
completely different. In fact, Islam condemns oppression of any kind whether it is towards a
woman or humankind in general(IslamWeb). By neglecting that distinction, many individuals
are grouping that sense of oppression towards all Muslim women, rather than a set following
strict cultural rules.
The International Society of Human Rights (ISHR), published the ad explicitly conveying
the oppression towards Muslim woman in the Islamic world uses the appeal to ignorance fallacy
towards the audiences who dont know a lot about Muslim countries. Most people in the West
tend to rely on the media for details on whats happening in other countries. However, at times,
the information may be biased or manipulated in a way to illustrate an event in a direr situation
than it actually may be. The need for entertainment may sway the information towards
exaggeration. This may promote the spread of ignorance among certain topics due to the lack of
sufficient information. The stereotype of the helpless Muslim woman, oppressed by her faith
and her nation, is used by secular liberals and conservatives alike. All too often, Muslim women
are used as pawns to justify Western imperialism, colonialism, and militarism(Rankin). The

stereotype of Muslim women helps feed on the ignorance of the oppression of women in Islamic
countries.
The ad created by the International Society of Human Rights stating that all women in the
Islamic world are oppressed will not be able to sway the audience who has knowledge of the
religion of Islam and Muslim countries and cultures. Their statements, which doesnt hold the
truth about Muslim women and their religion, shows ignorance rather than facts. Overall, the
advertisement is not effective due to the message it's trying to convey without sufficient evidence
to back their claims.

Work Cited
Cavender, Nancy, and Howard Kahane. Logic & Contemporary Rhetoric. 12th Edition.
Boston, MA: Wadsworth, 2006. Print.
Moore, Chris. The Burqa Islamic or Cultural? True Islam. Web. 10 Oct 2016.
www.quran-islam.org/articles/part_3/the_burqa_(P1357).html
Are Muslim women oppressed? IslamWeb. Web. 17 Oct 2016.
www.islamweb.net/en/article/109366/are-muslim-women-oppressed
Rankin, Lauren. The Biggest Lie You've Been Told About the Oppression Of Muslim Women.
Truthout, 13 July 2013. Web. 17 Oct 2016. www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/17552-thebiggest-lie-youve-been-told-about-the-oppression-of-muslim-women