Poetry... for Publicity and Advertising!

A Kufan merchant came to Medina with a stock of veils and sold them all, but the black ones remained and found no brisk market. This merchant was a friend of the poet al-Darimi, so he complained of it to him. The poet said to him: Let it not weigh on you — I shall move them for you until you have sold every one. Then he said:

Say to the fair one in the black veil:
what have you done to a monk at his devotions?
He had already girded up his garments for prayer —
until you crossed his sight at the door of the mosque.

And certain of the Muslims sang these verses, and they spread abroad, tempting the women to wear the black veil; not one woman of taste remained in Medina who did not buy herself a black veil, until all that the Iraqi had of them was sold out!