someone in UK was the first to do it as well, wasnt it? and its not banners, its advertisements nationally.
and yes there was a lot of ppl getting undies in a twist boycotts, threats, yobs of national front having heart attacks over it. and this was pre 9/11 this when muslims for the most part were invisible in national discussions. from a percentage of population it has been much higher in UK so the marketing to them came earlier than in US.
the backlash may not have been as visible because there was no internet for idiots to go start posting hate msgs on, but the backlash was there.
so your homework, interview some elders and ask them what they know about how it was like in UK.