Rachel Ray ad dunked

By now you’ve probably heard that an ad for Dunkin’ Donuts by the ubiquitous Rachel Ray has been yanked due to a scarf she was wearing. The accessory was deemed reminiscent of a traditional Arab accessory called a kaffiyeh, which was in turn linked to global jihad. The complaint seems to have been most prominently traced to conservative blogger Michele Malkin. An expert countered that a kaffiyeh is nothing more than something people in the Mideast wear to keep warm, not a terrorist symbol. Nevertheless, Dunkin’ Donuts pulled the ad, which was used in the Internet, since the controversy was distracting attention from its original purpose, which was to sell iced coffee.

RBR/TVBR observation: Geez. If somebody commits an atrocity while wearing an American flag lapel pin, does that make it the chosen uniform of atrocity committers? Sometimes a scarf is just a scarf. We don’t blame Dunkin’ Donuts for pulling the ad – they didn’t ask for nor deserve this development. But couldn’t the company have maximized the free PR offered by this if, rather than allowing itself to be bullied, it stood by the fact that Ray was wearing a scarf, and by the way, look how she’s enjoying that chilled cup of Joe?

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