Dunkin' Donuts has pulled an online advertisement featuring Rachael Ray after complaints that a fringed black-and-white scarf that the celebrity chef wore in the ad offers symbolic support for Muslim extremism and terrorism.
Apparently, this is not the first time a scarf has ignited such a debate.The coffee and baked goods chain said the ad that began appearing online May 7 was pulled over the past weekend because "the possibility of misperception detracted from its original intention to promote our iced coffee."
In the spot, Ray holds an iced coffee while standing in front of trees with pink blossoms.
Critics, including conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, complained that the scarf wrapped around her looked like a kaffiyeh, the traditional Arab headdress. Critics who fueled online complaints about the ad in blogs say such scarves have come to symbolize Muslim extremism and terrorism.
The kaffiyeh, Malkin wrote in a column posted online last Friday, "has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad. Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant (and not-so-ignorant) fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons."
Gosh, I don't know where anyone would get that idea, clearly only right-wing nuts like these folk would believe such a thing: http://socialismandliberation.org/mag/index.php?aid=166
Posted by: Gerg | May 29, 2008 at 07:53 PM
I'm not saying it's a right or left thing; I'm saying it's a crazy thing. To the extent the left objects. I think that's wrong as well. And FWIW, the article you link to talk about people wearing the kaffiyeh during protests against Israel, not while buying donuts or drinking iced coffee. I think there's a difference there worth noting.
Posted by: Jason Schultz | May 30, 2008 at 12:41 AM