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Owners Reject Blunt Billboard Pam Gellar Wants To Place Next to Pro-Hijab Billboard: Report

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A billboard company in Texas has no problem with displaying a pro-hijab advertisement, but the same company rejected a billboard that offered help to at-risk Muslim girls.

Last month, the northern Texas outlet KERA News published a story detailing a pro-hijab advertisement campaign in Dallas.

The Dallas chapter of the Islamic Circle of North America hopes the six-week billboard campaign “will encourage people to call and ask questions about the hijab, or head scarf.”

The pro-hijab billboard features a young woman wearing the Muslim head covering with the words “respect, honor and strength.”

Ruman Sadiq, an outreach volunteer for the group, claimed that the hijab represents “liberation.”

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“It is also a form of liberation from strangers who dictate how women should dress in the society to be successful,” Sadiq told KERA.

That’s a confusing statement, because women in Muslim-majority countries like Iran are forced to wear the hijab under threat of violence.

The billboard generated hundreds of angry calls to its sponsor, according to the New York Post.

However the billboard’s sponsors wish to portray it, and however liberal Western elites want to perceive it, for millions of women and girls, the hijab doesn’t represent liberation at all. It is a representation of an oppressive nightmare for too many Muslim women.

That’s why activist Pamela Geller tried to reach out to Muslim women with a “hijab” billboard of her own — next to the pro-hijab ads in Dallas.

“The first ad I submitted featured photos of a number of Muslim girls who were honor-murdered by their families for refusing to wear the hijab,” Geller explained in a column for Breitbart published Monday.

“Muslim Girls Killed By Their Families Because They Refused Hijab,” the billboard read.

“Are you forced to wear hijab? Is your family threatening you? We can help,” the ad continued.

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But Geller wrote that the billboard company, Outfront Media, formerly known as CBS Outdoor, refused her proposed advertisement.

According to Geller, Outfront General Manager Zack Danielson emailed her to say: “Good morning. I just received word that we cannot accept this copy due to the top tag line ‘Muslim Girls Killed By Their Families Because They Refused Hijab’. Is there any way you all can remove that line and leave everything else as is? Thank you.”

During the ensuing back-and-forth, the company suggested that Geller emphasize the “positive” nature of her message — rather than, you know, stressing that women and girls have been murdered for failing to cover their hair appropriately.

Do you think the hijab is oppressive?

She wrote that she responded: “Zack, Isn’t the message positive? We offer sanctuary to girls whose life is in (danger). Saving a life. What could be more positive than that?”

According to Geller, Danielson then offered a revised version. “How about offering a positive message that speaks to that exactly, with a tagline that reads: We offer a sanctuary to young (women) / girls who may feel that (their) life is in danger.”

Geller noted in her column that the proposed revision omitted a reference to the hijab and the girls who have been murdered.

“Finally, I submitted an ad reading: ‘Are you forced to wear hijab? Is your family threatening you?’” Geller wrote. “And underneath the photos: ‘These girls could have been saved.'”

She wrote that the company had not responded.

The problem is clear, though.

It’s hard to offer a “positive message” like the company demanded when there are girls in mortal danger because they don’t want to follow oppressive Islamic laws.

If Geller’s story is accurate, it shows how dangerous political correctness has become — advertising companies find it more acceptable to advertise the oppressive hijab than to offer help to women and girls who could be in danger.

Conservative Tribune contacted Outfront Media for comment but has received no response. We will update this article if and when we do.

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Malachi Bailey is a writer from Ohio with a background in history, education and philosophy. He has led multiple conservative groups and is dedicated to the principles of free speech, privacy and peace.
Malachi Bailey is a writer from Ohio with a passion for free speech, privacy and peace. He graduated from the College of Wooster with a B.A. in History. While at Wooster, he served as the Treasurer for the Wooster Conservatives and the Vice President for the Young Americans for Liberty.
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