(Image Source: Inquisitr)

BY LAUREN ZIMA

Earlier this month we brought you the story of home improvement retailer Lowe’s pulling its ads from TLC’s reality show “All-American Muslim” after pressure from the Florida Family Association. Since then, the situation has only escalated. And Tuesday, despite being presented with a massive petition -- the retailer still refused to reinstate its ads. Here’s WSOC.

“Religious leaders hand-delivered 200,000 signatures to Lowe’s Improvement Headquarters in Mooresville.”
“The group wanted Lowe’s to reinstate the ads, but said afterwards, they understood the company’s decision not to.”
“I think many of us would love for Lowe’s to have continued to advertise, to continued to have supported that community. But they have talked with us about their support of diversity.”
“But I asked, ‘Did they talk about Muslims and their faith?’”
“Not specifically about Muslim-Americans.”

Over the weekend, hundreds of protesters gathered at a Lowe’s stores in Michigan, where they were met by Lowe’s supporters carrying handguns -- albeit, legally -- and calling themselves the Michigan Militia. The situation remained peaceful, but Muslim-Americans and their supporters are still not satisfied with Lowe’s.

The company has apologized for offending people, but still won’t reinstate its ads -- saying it pulled the ads not because of anti-Muslim sentiments, but because the show was controversial. The Florida Family Association had said the program riskily hides an Islamic agenda.

A writer for The Huffington Post slams the FFA, and says Lowe’s looks bad and should feel ashamed.

But USA Today spoke with some of the cast members, who actually put a positive spin on the controversy.

“It’s definitely unified people, so honestly, I just want to thank the Florida Family Association for doing this, because I think what they were trying to do has totally backfired.”

And a blogger for OpenSalon says she does see why Lowe’s made its decision.

“Had Lowe’s simply been Islamophobic, as articles seem to insinuate, they would not have advertised with the show in the first place. … They did a simple calculation: Are we likely to increase our customer base by advertising on a show about ordinary Muslim Americans, or are we going to lose customers who do not even watch the show because the Muslims portrayed are too ordinary?”

As serious as the situation seems to have become, there’s still some room for the lighthearted. Three actors put together a parody of the problem - and created a Lowe’s commercial all their own.

In it, they shop at Lowe’s -- for what, we don’t know. Until the end.

A spokesperson for Lowe’s said the company pulls ads from controversial shows eight to 10 times a year, but would not provide examples.