Dunkin Donuts Pulls Ad Featuring Rachael Ray In A Scarf That Looks Too Arab

Dunkin Donuts has pulled a commercial featuring pitchwoman Rachael Ray wearing a scarf because Michelle Malkin and other conservative observers thought the scarf looked too much like a keffiyeh, what Malkin describes as "the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad."

The Boston Globe reports that Dunkin Donuts caved to pressure from the conservative blogosphere — and the fear of a mass boycott — and removed the ad:

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.''

Malkin praised the decision in her column, writing,

It's refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists. Too many of them bend over backward in the direction of anti-American political correctness....

Fashion statements may seem insignificant, but when they lead to the mainstreaming of violence -- unintentionally or not -- they matter. Ignorance is no longer an excuse. In post-9/11 America, vigilance must never go out of style.

Malkin has previously lauded Dunkin Donuts for its support of immigration laws.

Below, watch Ray promote Dunkin' Donuts in a 2007 ad.

Comments

[helloworld2008]

Malkin is a racist. She's on record as supporting the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, anb abuse for which Ronald Reagan personally apologized.

These racist/facists should be ashamed. And so should gutless cowards at Dunkin Donuts.

If Dunkkkin Donuts hates Arabs so much, I can eat elsewhere.

[shengirl]

I read about a boy who came to America with his family when he was 10. From Germany. When WW II broke out, he was old enough and enlisted and fought in the US Army. No worries there if he, who was born in our enemy country Germany, was ok, unlike the Japanese Americans who were sent to camps, even the many who were born IN America. Go figure. You can't tell me this was some cruel but necessary wartime policy. It was racism, pure and simple. A German-born white guy from Europe was ok; Oriental faces, even if they were born in America or had been here for generations, were not.

[Oilygarch]

If I may, I'd like to add to your story. My grampa zeidi was an Austrian Jew lucky to make it out on one of the last ships allowed to leave for America out of Nazi-occupied Europe. He enlisted in the US Army Air Corps at the age of 16 on a ''waiver''.

-But in exchange for his enlistment, they actually gave him a US Birth Certificate!!! They put his calendar birth-date down wrong by a couple of days. We celebated both days because his second date was a symbol of his emancipation as a transformed "natural born" American. *LOL*

Now THAT's a much better story than having done time in a concentration camp, whether it be German or American. Though it's not much consolation to the poor Japanese Americans who did time locked up, just because they were Japanese.

[strandwolf]

You'd be doing yourself a favor by avoiding donuts altogether. Not terribly healthful grub. Empty calories--more nutrition in a Snickers bar to be truthful....

[cobobs]

It is going to hurt more than a little bit if Arabs begin to boycott everything that is in anyway American, and the Arabs do consume a lot of American stuff and culture. Dunkin Donuts should stop being idiots, especially because the have shops in Arab countries. Playing to the tune of a crazy Coulteresque bigot like Malkin is such a bad idea. This corporation might say it does not want to be political, but rolling over to this kind of ridiculous campaign is in itself a political statement.

[city]

A better reason to take Rachel Ray out of the ad is that she is the most annoying TV personality. She is loud, messy, giggles when she talks, her hair falls forward toward the food she is preparing and she is way overexposed in the media.
I'm a fan of the Food Network but as soon as I see her I switch channels.

[bhowe6]

And what about the ARABica coffee they serve at Dunkin Donuts? I think a conspiracy brewing.

[ArabianMonkey]

LOOOOLL!!

[PackyJ]

Rachael Ray should actually acquire an Arab scarf, and wear it on her show.

[mpgarr]

I went to Malkin's website and read some of the many comments of her minions in regards to this subject---my God--I knew that people of the extreme right were a bit off in the head-but holy cow---Malkin and her crowd are some pieces of work.
Imagine---being so amped up that you get your knickers in a knot over a SCARF!!!!! I really do think that civivlization as we have known it is coming to an end--or at least it should!!

Time to start over God --if you are real---this experiment with humanity was a major cluster f#*k!

Excuse me-it may be summer now--but I need to go out and see if I can find a scarf like the one Rachel Ray wore in that add---it actually looks kinda nice.

[shengirl]

simple minds prefer simple subjects...

[3Westies]

Dear Ms Malkin, I can't speak for anyone else, but I for one feel much safer today. How proud you must be of spearheading the campaign against Dunkin' Donuts for their insensitive, radical display of parading a Food TV host in an ad wearing what appears to be a keffiyeh around her neck. I thought they were traditionally worn around your head, but what the heck do I know. Nonetheless, you got me going and I must admit when I first saw the ad I was terrified. So terrified that I ran into the bedroom shouting "the terrorist scarf is coming! the terrorist scarf is coming!" and hid under my bed. Not to worry, I had my duct tape and plastic sheeting at the ready. I'm not paranoid or anything, but a few years ago HS told us to have them on hand, I'm sure you can relate. You know, while I was under my bed, I found that scarf I misplaced a few weeks ago. It does resemble the one in the ad, dare I say a keffiyeh! Not only have you single handedly stopped Dunkin' Donuts from airing the offensive ad, but I thought I heard about you're next mission to round up all these offensive scarves during your "Michelle Malkin's Stop Fashion Terrorism Because It Really Is All That Matters In America Tour", a surefire way for you to seek out these textiles and eliminate them from American drawers and closets everywhere. Count my scarf in.

(continued)

[3Westies]

Thank you for bringing this to the forefront. I've been stupidly focused on what I thought were the important issues all this time, like the war, hunger, poverty, health care, jobs, global warming, gas prices and the housing crisis. What was I thinking? You have made me see the light. SMD's, or Scarves Of Mass Destruction as I like to refer to them, take precedence, because after all you can never be too complacent when it comes to fashion terrorism. This scourge must be nipped in the bud. You know, now that I've taken a closer look at that scarf I found under my bed, oh, you're not going to believe this, silly me. It seems I've made a teensy weensy mistake. The offender was simple a pair of my husband's dirty boxer shorts. Sorry, but it was dark under there and it sure looked like that one of those...........anyway, you see, turns out my dog Luna, that little dickens, must have gotten into the hamper and well, you know dogs, they like to tear things up. I'm sure my elusive real scarf will turn up someday, but in the meantime, hubby's drawers are a nice paisley print, just like the one Rachel Ray was wearing and Luna was quite talented in tearing them to kind of look fringy, so if you think they'd help your cause...................

[ratched]

Oh My Gosh- you are spot on - the time these idiots waste on stupid arguments is unbelieveable! Thanks for a good read and a real belly laugh!!!!

[brick4barack]

Of course Malkin would praise the decision. Every pipsqueak in the punditocracy wants to have influence. So they pulled a Rachel Ray donut ad off the air - they can carve that on Malkin's epitaph when she's gone.

[letsbepeaceful]

what a ridiculous thing to fuss about - I'd love to see the scarf spread out, since I heard it was actually paisley. Oh oops - that's a design that originated in Persia, now Iran. Does that make it taboo too? How idiotic can we get. And what a 'diss' to the entire Arab community from Dunkin Donuts to pander to this complaint.

[Oilygarch]

I'm going to print this article and keep copies in my car. Then hand it to every Pakistani Drunkin Dognuts franchise owner and employee I see. Let them judge for themselves the type of company that they're in.

[Aramingo]

Here's what Dunkin Donuts response should have been:

Apparently, Ms. Malkin is under the impression that Dunkin Donuts has never had to deal with a**holes before. We would prefer it if people so warped by hatred and fear not patronize our stores. Ideally, they shouldn't come within 100 yards of our stores.

Thank you, and good Dunkin.

[goodtomeetyou]

I like.

[moorwill]

AMEN!!!

[kuate]

Well said Aramingo......Corporate America has no balls. I can't believe a stupid bitch like Malkin can open her mouth and scare Dunkin Donuts this way.

Is there a reason to not wear red, white and blue in our country just because some US soldiers behave like barbarians overseas, terrorizing families and raping their young girls before killing them all? ....I think this is a fair question for the racists Malkin, Limbaugh, Hannity, and Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona.

[SifSkade]

Correction to my earlier post: I meant that 99 percent of the non-Arabs wearing a keffiyeh as a fashion statement probably don't know that it's anything but a nice-looking scarf; I was clearly not suggesting that 99 percent of all keffiyeh wearers worldwide don't know what it is.

[SifSkade]

It clearly was a keffiyeh; there have actually been newspaper articles about how it's being used as a fashion accessory, and I would bet that 99 percent of the people wearing it as such don't even know that it was ever intended to be anything but a cute scarf. That being said, millions and millions of Arabs wear them -- by making that statement, Michelle Malkin was merely feeding into the fear/hate machine that suggests that all Arabs are suicide bombing terrorists. She gets the finger for saying that (and, frankly, just for being her), and Dunkin Donuts gets the finger for caving to such base ignorance.

[Oilygarch]

Which finger?

[repugnicansfearme]

Rachel Ray with just a scarf on. Now THAT'S an ad I want to see.