Have you heard this deal about Dunkin’ Donuts pulling an ad because, in it Rachel Ray was wearing a scarf that some people say is a political statement?
Here is what we are talking about.
From Fox News.
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.”
The “possibility of misperception”; some say that the scarf looks like a “kaffiyeh”.
Here’s how the Merriam-Webster defines kaffiyeh in their online dictionary.
kaffiyeh
: an Arab headdress consisting of a square of cloth folded to form a triangle and held on by a cord
So, what Rachel is sporting above; kaffiyeh or not a kaffiyeh?
If it is a kaffiyeh then, that’s bad according to Michelle Malkin.
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.”
I’ve seen Rachel Ray cooking stuff on T.V. She always seems cheerful and interested in food. I would never have made the connection to Yasser Arafat. Thanks for that Michelle Malkin.
A statement issued by Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin’ Brands Inc., however, said the scarf had a paisley design, and was selected by a stylist for the advertising shoot.
“Absolutely no symbolism was intended,” the company said.
So, Dunkin’ pulled the ad and Michelle Malkin and presumably the rest of the people who possibly perceived or misperceived are happy.
Malkin, in a posting following up on last week’s column, said of Dunkin’s decision to pull the ad, “It’s refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists.”
See, I have a hard time with the notion that Ray, drinking a cup of coffee, trying to sell some coffee, is trying to align herself with this guy and his beliefs.
This whole thing, it seems a little silly and unimportant in the Grand Scheme.
Actually, it’s not so benign. It’s a form of censorship based on symbolism. A group of people have decided that a clothing object symbolizes a set of beliefs. So, anybody who wears that clothing object, is now subject to repercussion.
An object of clothing isn’t a symbol until someone decides it is. It’s designed to be clothing.
Maybe Michelle Malkin has some inside beef with Rachel Ray. Maybe, she’s run into Rachel Ray at a goat cheese party and, through personal conversation, has surmised that Ray sympathizes with the murderous Palestinian jihad and, that she must be stopped.
It doesn’t add up.
If you decide that an article of clothing “has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad” then, you are doing two things. You are empowering that piece of clothing to be a symbol for people who do actually believe that and, at the same time, running a witch hunt on people who are wearing the piece of clothing to serve a function and don’t follow that belief.
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Tags: advertising, baked goods, censorship, dunkin brands inc, michelle malkin, rachel ray, yasser arafat
Pat Darnell and Pork Burgers wrote,
In context of Rachel Ray’s stumping for food stuffs… her next calendar event is actually found here:
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/
2008/05/rachel-ray-is-not-muslim-nor-jew.html
Don’t forget to include both lines in your browser… so if there is any more confusion over Rachel Ray’s style assets, she is not now, nor ever has been Muslim, or Jewish.
Pat Darnell and Pork Burgers’s last blog post..Rachel Ray is not a Muslim, nor a Jew
Link | May 29th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Pribek wrote,
I was wondering about that picture when I saw it on your site PD. I was thinking that you had photo shopped something together but, upon further review…I don’t know, is it legit?
Link | May 29th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Sans Direction wrote,
I have a kaffiyeh.
Hers is cut down to a more trendy-girl-scarf-y size. It’s cuter. At least by the pics; we don’t have a Dunkin Donuts in town so I haven’t seen the commercial. Mine was big enough that I used it as a scarf in winter. Which is what I did.
Mine is black and white. I was told at the time I bought it (1990 or so) that red and white signified allegiance with the PLO. I was not nearly ready to go that far. I saw a video of life in Germany during a German class in middle school, with a Dieter-like youth wearing black denim pants, a black sweater and a kaffiyeh, and I thought that was a cool look.
I wore it in South Dakota through the first Gulf War, and nobody said anything to me about it. I even flew through Salt Lake City to Las Vegas wearing it. Nobody said anything about it. I’m surprised, too.
If you look at Arafat’s profile, you see what his is supposed to look like his idea of what the Palestinian state looks like. Which is pretty much what Israel looks like. No, exactly what Israel looks like. But it’s the way he wore it, like nobody else wears it, that signifies that specifically.
We aren’t at war because of their fashion. We aren’t at war because of their food. We are at war because people in their culture attacked us. The best possible (yes, impossible) outcome would be for their culture, en masse, reject that sort of hate and step into the 21st century. For that to happen, we need to accept acceptable parts of their culture. Not saying we need to accept polygamy, clitorectomy and rocket attacks, but we shouldn’t reject kuskus, rai and kaffiyehs. I don’t want to see the Senate cafeteria serving “liberty ghannouj”. We shouldn’t toss hookahs any more than we reject smoking otherwise over here.
It’s not just stupid. It’s also not helpful.
Sans Direction’s last blog post..Remedial Songwriting 102, or Pray for the Thunder and the Rain
Link | May 29th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Pat Darnell and Friends wrote,
http://askville.amazon.com/depends-time-day-picked-deed-athletic/AnswerDetails.do?requestId=9073429&responseId=9086192
[retrieved in april/may, 2008]
I should start putting a warning on my sites: This Web site is Not for lonely men on Sabbatical.
My two bachelor/separated friends both responded to that Cheese cake Rachel Ray is stumping…. god Bless ya both!!
___________________________________ meanwhile–
Dear Sans: if you did not have the “pleasure” to attend any “Swap Meets” or “Flea Markets” where you might have encountered the reddened neck breed of Americans, you are as wise as you are talented. I sense you are a wise man anyway, but the real danger is if one should try to wear those garbs in pseudo-patriotic biker bars, or drunken native American Casino/buffets that are roadside attractions all around the USA. Most of my Sikh friends from the flea market in Houston and in Dallas, all, 100%, cut their hair, and quit wearing the head dresses. Not kidding; and I know how important that decision was to them.
Sans, my wife is from Foggia, Italy. I have an enormous group of inlaws in the city. Her family is Ruggiero. In Italy I stand out like a bull moose in a china steam and press; does not matter if I wear jams or a Speedo.
Last time we were there, as we were leaving him at the gate, my brother in law Biaggio told me “When you come back; bring $20 million dollars, eh?”
Pat Darnell and Friends’s last blog post..Rachel Ray is not a Muslim, nor a Jew
Link | May 29th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Kenski wrote,
S’funny, but when I saw the pic I noticed the paisley pattern (not exactly Islamic!) first, then the style… then I read the story I thought it was funny, then thought to myself… well, I’m not going to say exactly what I thought but it contained the words “f***king”, “moronic” and the phrase “what the f**k”.
Absolutely ridiculous. My niece wears a similar scarf all the time. She’s not a terrorist sympathiser, it’s just that black and white patterned scarves are trendy right now, both for men and women. It’s kinda part of the new urban look that’s going on at the moment. The roots may be in someone seeing a keffiyeh and thinking ‘that looks cool’, but it’s fashion, people, FASHION. If there’s any political statement involved then it’s on the same level as someone wearing one of those Che Guevara print t-shirts.
Puts me in mind of that news story about the airport security guy who stopped a lady for flying with a 3″ tall figurine of a soldier holding a rifle when he’d be instructed to look out for *anything* that resembled a gun.
The irony is that even if you think this cr*p is stupid you still buy the newspaper just to read about how stupid it is. Either way the media moguls win.
Kenski’s last blog post..iPod DJ Vol. 2
Link | May 30th, 2008 at 3:33 am