Once upon a time (last year) in a land not so far away for some (America), the popular American retailer Urban Outfitter sold a fashionable checkered scarf — and the buyers, they came. From New York to Los Angeles and in many cities in between, youngsters wore this scarf as it made them… well… trendy. That is, until someone likened their fashion statement to a certain person (Yasser Arafat) associated with terrorism. Ever so quickly, that fad was gone.
Today, Dunkin Donuts finds itself in a similar controversy… and if I may say, it’s a bit absurd. The checkered scarf which has come to be associated with Yasser Arafat and the Fatah movement has long been used by the Arabian bedouins to keep the sand out of their eyes! I understand people’s apprehensions, but it is really going overboard… it’s just sad.
Boston Globe
May 27, 2008
Dunkin’ Donuts yanks Rachael Ray ad
Does Dunkin’ Donuts really think its customers could mistake Rachael Ray
for a terrorist sympathizer? The Canton-based company has abruptly
canceled an ad in which the domestic diva wears a scarf that looks like a
keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men.
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Some observers, including ultra-conservative Fox News commentator Michelle
Malkin, were so incensed by the ad that there was even talk of a Dunkin’
Donuts boycott.
??The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men
that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad,” Malkin yowls in
her syndicated column.
??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.”
The company at first pooh-poohed the complaints, claiming the
black-and-white wrap was not a keffiyeh. But the right-wing drumbeat on
the blogosphere continued and by yesterday, Dunkin’ Donuts decided it’d be
easier just to yank the ad.
Said the suits in a statement: ??In a recent online ad, Rachael Ray is
wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was
selected by her stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism
was intended. However, given the possibility of misperception, we are no
longer using the commercial.’ ‘
(In case you’re wondering, the stylist who selected the offending scarf
was not Gretta Enterprises boss Gretchen Monahan, who appears on Ray’s TV
show as a style consultant.)
For her part, Malkin was pleased with Dunkin’s response: ??It’s refreshing
to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans
opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists.’ ‘
