Amish space heater ads draw critics

A U.S. marketing campaign for a space heater that uses images of the Amish religious sect — which eschews electric conveniences — is dishonest, critics say.

The 1,500-watt Heat Surge device, made by a company of the same name in Canton, Ohio, features images of Amish women in bonnets, men in straw hats and a couple driving a buggy in its ads, which say, Amish man’s new miracle idea helps home heat bills hit rock bottom, the Religion News Service reported in a story published Saturday.

I’m somewhat suspicious, Donald Kraybill, an Amish expert at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, told the news service. I think it’s an English (non-Amish) company exploiting the Amish name and image.

The Canton Better Business Bureau said it has received 39 advertising complaints about Heat Surge, which all have been resolved. BBB officials told Religion News Service they toured Amish workshops in rural Ohio as part of its investigation into the company.

Are (the Amish) being exploited by this? Absolutely not, said Holmes County, Ohio, Commissioner Joe Miller, saying he knows the man depicted in the ads and says he’s Amish. It was a shot in the arm this winter.