Banks in Britain are getting rid of piggy banks, because they may offend Muslims. Pigs are considered unclean under Islam. Some Muslims have applauded the move, while others have joined criticism of it as taking political correctness to absurd lengths:
"We live in a multicultural society and the traditions and symbols of one community should not be obliterated just to accommodate another," Mr Mahmoud said. "I doubt many Muslims would be seriously offended by piggy banks."

Posted by: kstop | | Tue Oct 25 21:49:25 2005

Surely anyone hardcore enough to be offended by a piggy bank isn't going to be using a western bank in the first place?

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org/ | Tue Oct 25 22:07:14 2005

You'd think so. That could also be the (post-war) English tendency towards self-deprecation and apology for one's existence.

Posted by: dj | http://deej.bah.id.au | Wed Oct 26 09:01:21 2005

Shouldn't 'proper' Muslims be using Islamic banks that don't commit usury?

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org | Wed Oct 26 09:51:48 2005

A lot of British high-street banks offer Islamic mortgages and such, which use some semantic sleight-of-hand to avoid the concept of interest (I think the bank buys the house and sells it back to the customer in instalments or something).

Posted by: amby | http:// | Wed Oct 26 15:43:41 2005

They even have Islamic Investment funds, where the returns are "purified" according to shariah law... gains from vice stocks are given to charity.

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org | Wed Oct 26 15:54:21 2005

So they invest in vice stocks in the first place rather than avoiding them? Or is avoiding un-Islamic investments more difficult than avoiding the sorts of things ethical investment funds avoid (arms manufacturers, sweatshop exploiters and such)?

Posted by: amby | http:// | Thu Oct 27 15:53:13 2005

Oh they do invest in vice stocks, but any dividends/capital gains from them will be handed over to charity... makes more sense than traditional ethical investing really, since that will only leave the remaining vice investors with a greater share of the vice company dividends.

Posted by: gjw | http://the-fix.org | Tue Nov 1 13:17:24 2005

Media Watch revealed this to be a beat up last night - apparently a bank branch removed piggy banks from display...because the promotional campaign had ended.

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