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Does Rachael Ray's scarf in TV ad offer support for terrorists?
Dunkin' Donuts pulls online advertisement after complaints
By Mark Jewell
Associated Press
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BOSTON -- Dunkin’ Donuts has pulled an online advertisement featuring Rachael Ray after complaints that a fringed black-and-white scarf that the celebrity chef wore in the ad offers symbolic support for Muslim extremism and terrorism.

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.”

In the spot, Ray holds an iced coffee while standing in front of trees with pink blossoms.

Critics, including conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, complained that the scarf wrapped around her looked like a kaffiyeh, the traditional Arab headdress. Critics who fueled online complaints about the ad in blogs say such scarves have come to symbolize Muslim extremism and terrorism.

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.”

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.

Dunkin’ spokeswoman Michelle King said the ad appeared on the chain’s Web site, as well as other commercial sites.

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.”

Ray, host of the Food Network television program “30 Minute Meals” as well as a syndicated daytime talk show, began appearing in ads for Dunkin’ Donuts in March 2007. When Dunkin’ announced the partnership, it said Ray would be featured in TV, print, radio and online spots in a campaign running through 2010.
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This undated photo provided Wednesday by Dunkin' Donuts shows a recent online ad featuring Rachael Ray. Dunkin' Donuts said Wednesday it canceled an online advertisement featuring celebrity chef Rachael Ray after complaints that a scarf she wore in the ad offers symbolic support for terrorism. (AP Photo/Dunkin' Donuts)
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Reader comments on this story - 9 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

italkalot wrote on Jun 1, 2008 10:27 PM:

" Please! What is the point of accusing Rachael Ray of terrorism simply because she wore a scarf that resembles a terrorist's? It was all just a scandal to get media attention. If you look past the terrorism-accusations, it's actually quite a lovely scarf. "

MissainMO wrote on May 31, 2008 8:55 PM:

" Michelle Malkin sees terrorists under ever coffee cup. She wrote the book 'In Defense of Internment" right after 9/11, She wanted to put Arab-Americans in internment camps in case any of them were in cahoots with bin Ladin. More Arab-Americans probably have seen Sammy Hagar (oooh, another dangerous Ay-rab) in concert than even know WHO bin Ladin is. Besides, the scary scarfs Malkin is so worried about don't have fringe. "

apples21 wrote on May 31, 2008 10:35 AM:

" COME ON PEOPLE!!!! I would have to say that some people in this world are ignorant, you can't even get dressed without saying that someone is apart of a terriorst act. COME ON PEOPLE get a friggin life. personally if they don't like it here go back we have the right to express our freedom of speech and our freedom to wear what we want. Just because they don't doesn't mean that they have the right to tell us what we have to wear. Rachel Ray is a good person come on People she is an American get behind her it is a friggin scarf. If we don't step up for what is right, then we might as well live like them and have black head dresses and not be able to speak our mind to our government. Terrorism is wrong in every sense of the word and I think that anyone that is a terrorist is just a person who doesn't have a brain for themselves and they think that all americans are evil and we are out to get them. I think that Rachel Ray did nothing wrong and Donkin Donuts did not either. "

michelle24 wrote on May 30, 2008 9:12 AM:

" Support for terrorism? Not here in the good ole USA! Leave her alone! "

The Voice wrote on May 30, 2008 5:21 AM:

" We have become a nation of wimps. Its a scarf people, your own grandmothers wear them to church each week, terrorist grannies that is. "

Crimson wrote on May 29, 2008 2:31 PM:

" The rest of the US has realized what Anthony Bourdain has known for years - Rachel Ray is evil! "

sandy0511 wrote on May 29, 2008 10:08 AM:

" She just shot herself in the foot!!!!! "

isabelle wrote on May 29, 2008 10:01 AM:

" Is this really serious? "

Redbeard wrote on May 29, 2008 9:30 AM:

" The world has gone truly mad when we reach the point where we actually listen to Michelle Malkin tell us what color scarf we're allowed to wear. "
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