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Lowes Takes Florida Group Pressure, Cancels Ads On Muslim TV Show

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Lowes, with 120 stores in Florida, has yanked its advertising from a cable-tv program, All-American Muslim, after a Florida-based organization called upon members to pressure the chain to abandon the program.

The e-mail campaign was staged by the Florida Family Association, which has targeted "All- American Muslim" on the TLC channel as, "propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda."

The organization claims it's campaign has convinced 65 companies to pull their advertising, including Lowes, which has confirmed it's decision to yank it's advertising.

"Lowe's has received a significant amount of communication on this program, from every perspective possible," The company said in a statement issued over the weekend.

"Individuals and groups have strong political and societal views on this topic, and this program became a lightning rod for many of those views. As a result we did pull our advertising on this program."

The action drew an almost immediate negative response, including a call for people to boycott the national home-improvement chain in protest.

On the Association website, the organization claims, "Florida Family Association has not experienced this strong of a response on any other issue during the past 23 years."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) posted a notice on it's Facebook page urging people to sign a petition urging advertisers not to bow to Florida Family's pressure.

The page contains numerous links to media articles condemning Lowes as "un-American" and worse.

In the weekend statement, Lowes said, "We believe it is best to respectfully defer to communities, individuals and groups to discuss and consider such issues of importance."

All-American Muslim is an eight-part program that follows the lives of 5 Muslim families in Dearborn, Michigan, home of the largest mosque in the U.S.

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