PETALING JAYA, June 24 — Indonesian nightlife chain Holywings has issued an apology after backlash over what has been regarded as a blasphemous marketing campaign using the name Muhammad.
In the now-deleted post, Holywings promised a bottle of Gordon’s dry gin for men named Muhammad while women who are named Maria would get a bottle of Gordon’s Pink Gin every Thursday, reported Coconuts Jakarta.
Although Maria is an important figure in both the Bible and the Quran, the outrage was centred on the use of the name Muhammad, who is the last prophet in Islam.
The nightlife chain issued an apology on Instagram yesterday and promised to do better for future marketing campaigns.
"We have taken action against the promotions team, who made the promo without the management’s prior knowledge, with heavy sanctions.
"We did not mean to associate elements of religion with our promo, so we express our deepest apology to all the people of Indonesia."
Many were infuriated in the comments section saying that the marketing team should have known better than to post something related to the country’s main Islamic faith.
"This marketing brand is an insult to the Islamic faith,” wrote @suandharu.
Ini Penghinaan dan Harus segera ada permintaan maaf!!Akun @holywingsbar @holywingsindonesia sempat mengunggah informasi promosi Alkohol Gratis bagi pelanggan yang punya nama ‘Muhammad’ dan ‘Maria’.Tentu nama Muhammad ada pd sosok yg sangat kita junjung di agama Islam pic.twitter.com/fLoUj5zPw8
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