Racism toward Arabs in Israel is so rampant that Israeli web commenters respond with automatic hysteria every time they encounter them. Advertisers for the Hamashbir Lazarchan chain of department store are familiar with the harsh and violent discourse prevalent in Israel today, and knew very well the kind of uproar that would be sparked by their advertisement that ran during the Euro 2016 soccer finals July 10, the first Arabic-language ad broadcast during prime time on Israeli commercial television. 

Responses to the ad couldn't have been more predictable if they were written in advance. For instance, Sharon Uziel's comment on Hamashbir’s Facebook page was unequivocal: “A chain that encourages terrorists.” On the other hand, Maya Bakal-Ron wrote in a no less extreme tone on the same page: “Good for you for advertising in Arabic!! A breakthrough in the right direction!!” — as if national aspirations for coexistence and peace stood behind the ad. The commenters seemed not to understand anything. Their emotional response, however, played right into the strategy behind the ad.

Aside from the predictable angry responses and vows to boycott the chain in the days that followed, public discourse in Israel also turned to the purchasing power of the Arab sector in Israel. The economic newspaper Calcalist estimates the sector’s purchasing power at 1.7 billion shekels ($442 million) a month.

“The Arab sector represents about 20% of our purchasing power, but we felt that we haven’t addressed them enough and examined why this was so,” Hamashbir Lazarchan's marketing director Sigal Cohen told Al-Monitor. For Hamashbir, whose revenues amount to more than a billion shekels (over $260 million) a year, 20% is not negligible. The ad was targeted at the wedding season in the Arab sector with its expensive dowries and promised prizes to anyone who purchases in large sums. “There are 15,000 to 18,000 weddings a year in the Arab sector and it’s an untapped market,” Cohen explained.