Business - Written by Alan Majer on Friday, June 13, 2008 8:41 - 3 Comments
Is Dunkin’ Donuts intolerant?
Dunkin’ Donuts recently pulled an ad where spokesperson Rachael Ray was wearing a scarf that columnist Michelle Malkin had said looked like a a Kaffiyeh. Malkin labeled it:
“the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad.”
Dunkin’ Donuts bowed to the pressure, saying:
‘‘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.’’
I think it’s unfortunate that a traditional article of clothing worn by millions (also incidentally, by Lawrence of Arabia, and by the British SAS too – though the latter call refer to it as shemaghs) is the cause of such a fuss. It’s ludicrous to draw links between Ray or Dunkin’ Donuts and the support of terrorism because of an article of clothing. We shouldn’t support extremsim of any kind – which I think also extends to include overreactions like this which would judge or label someone based on their wardrobe. What the world needs is more tolerance, not reactions and judgements about huge segments of the earth’s population.
A better response by Dunkin’ Donuts would have been to move in the opposite direction. To ensure that no single political message was being sent, they might have done well to feature adornments or clothing from a variety of cultures in their ads.
3 Comments
Ben Letalik
Martin Bakner
What happened here is that Dunkin’ Donuts gave credence to a false report from a Fox News contributor. That is sad. Ms. Ray is wearing a scarf, for crying out loud! Hopefully, Dunkin’ Donuts will pull all advertising from Fox.
Bob
I disagree. Dunkin’ did the only thing it really could: end the stupidity it had no part in making.
Anything else would just fan the flames and the lunatic fringe on each side would continue to have a hook on which to hang their inumerable greivances, using the good commercial name of Dunkin’ Donuts to get the attention tha they would never otherwise get.
Some folks continue to gripe and call for boycotts, and that has gone exactly nowhere (particualrly since the “boycotters” were Starbucks-only branded sheeple anyway). Others have more thoughtful opinions, like yours, but it really only is partof a civil discourse that accompanies almost anything.
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The American news media and especially Fox News never ceases to amaze me. To be able to create an issue out of essentially nothing is quite an impressive feat.
A video done by The Young Turks raises some good points. In addition to being ridiculous, the reaction from Fox News is actually very offensive. It is basically saying that any person that buys or wears something of Palestinian origin (not that Rachel Ray’s scarf was even necessarily Palestinian) is un-American, unpatriotic and a terrorist. They went on to draw parallels to this situation and World War II where Japanese culture was similarly taboo. While I can see why Dunkin’ Donuts pulled the ad, it basically states that Malkin and the bloggers who supported her were right. The turks even suggested boycotting Dunkin’ Donuts BECAUSE they pulled the ad.
It seems like Dunkin’ Donuts can’t please everyone on this issue. Still, the fact that this even became an issue is the real problem that needs examination.