Amazon Christmas advert 2016: Imam and priest push festive message of friendship

The company pushes a message of inter-faith friendship at a divise time in the UK and the US

Amazon is launching a new TV advert, ahead of Black Friday and Christmas, featuring an imam and a vicar exchanging gifts.

The company pushes a message of inter-faith friendship at a divisive time in the UK and the US.

Anti-muslim incidents in the UK have increased following the vote to leave the EU. Meanwhile, during his campaign, US President-elect Donald Trump said he plans to ban all Muslims from entering the US.

Amazon said its new advert, which is launching in the UK, US and Germany, is about "selflessness and thinking of other people".

The online retailer has worked with representatives of faiths across the globe, in the UK that includes the Christian and Muslim Forum, the Church of England and the Muslim Council of Britain, in order to make sure they portray the figures both accurately and sensitively.

A spokesman for Amazon told The Independent: "Our casting reflects this: the gentleman playing the vicar is a practising vicar in London, the gentleman playing the imam is a devout Muslim and the principal of a Muslim school. We used an actual church and mosque for our scenes within the places of worship."

The advertisement tells a story of a Christian vicar and a Muslim imam who are lifelong friends but who aren’t as sprightly as they were in their youth.

One day the vicar has a moment of inspiration and decides to do something to make the imam’s life and work a little easier. What the vicar doesn’t know, is that the imam also has the same idea for the vicar.

The campaign will run during Wednesday’s Coronation Street on ITV in the UK.