Dunkin' Donuts secretly supporting terrorists, or simply fashion victims? Yeah, it's the latter.

Little green Footballs (and yes, that's a reference to snot) got all upset when they saw Rachael Ray sporting a kaffiyeh in the latest Dunkin Breakfast Choices banner, writing: "Mainstreaming Terrorism to Sell Donuts". I've spoken to someone who was on set, and there was a choice of scarfes a la the latest fashions to choose from, they simply picked one that looked nice with no political motivations behind it. But as the NYT says; Where Some See Fashion, Others See Politics: (They also say that the kaffiyeh is passé which anything that gets a writeup in NYT is, so throw it away already.) In Sweden the "palestina scarf" as we call it has been a staple of communist, punks, vegans and other alternative kids clothing since the seventies - these days even style guru Elin Kling sports a red one. The colors have different meanings here, pink if you're feminist, green for vegan and so on - which has nothing to do with the orginal kaffiyeh. If you are in the US, British or coalition forces you'll call it shemagh and it'll come in army green. Either way, Dunkin' Donuts decided to pull the offending Rachel Ray banner and issued a full apology. I'm guessing that the stylist won't shop at Urban Outfitters again which is just as well.
Update: Offending rich media banner inside (though I can't seem to make it work properly)

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Andreas-Udd's picture

Looks like you found the exact scarf she's wearing! All silk? Hmmm. Maybe I'll get one.

Robblink's picture

Jihadlicious?

MaryWills's picture

Funny - you'd think this story about McCain's daughter wearing the keffiyeh would have generated more of a buzz than this.

Dabitch's picture

People pay more attention to advertising that the news it seems. ;) Good for us!

Neo's picture

Doesn't it require a chain-link pattern to be a real kaffiyeh? Isn't this a bit like calling all Asians Nazis for having temples marked with swastikas on their street maps? Mountain out of a molehill.

Dabitch's picture

Silk probably isn't the right stuff either. ;)

Allan1's picture

Most of them are made of cotton, or cotton & wool. (It turns out that the majority of the Palestinian keffiyehs are made in China, because it costs 40% less that way. The local factories couldn't compete). The Palestinian ones generally have a black and white zig-zag pattern (spider web like), although some incorporate red checkerboard patterns.

According to Webster's, the word keffiyeh came into English usage around 1817. T.E. Lawrence (i.e. Lawrence of Arabia) wore a plain white keffiyeh (with agal, to hold it in place).

Dabitch's picture

In this shot (and many others) he has two agals, or rather a double-barraled one. :) Emir Faisal's party at Versailles, during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Left to right: Rustum Haidar, Nuri as-Said, Prince Faisal, Captain Pisani (behind Faisal), T. E. Lawrence, Faisal's black slave (name unknown), Captain Hassan Khadri.

adlib's picture

It's a SCARF people.

Has to be done:

argantil's picture

Hehe.

OH NOES THEY GOT MATT DAMON TOO!

Dabitch's picture

Nonono, that's a shemagh just like the ones the British SAS wear and if you call the black and white chain link patterned scarf a shemagh you are clearly not linked to terrorism even if it looks identical to a black and white chain link kaffiyeh. See? It's so easy to keep track. Like chief Wiggums said: "I thought that too, until he said yard trimmings. You gotta learn to listen, Lou."

My fave actress to loathe, Kirsten Dunst, in a kaffiyeh.

Allan1's picture

my wife hates Kirsten too [although we both liked her in Drop Dead Gorgeous *],but nowhere near as much as she hates Renée Zellweger!

*{we actually have some swag from the movie - a Sarah Rose Cosmetics compact-mirror}!

argantil's picture

Ricky Martin approves of this thread.

Dabitch's picture

They got Jessica Alba too!

argantil's picture

You slay me.

Did anyone else see that Dutch boomerang postcard (I know there are Dutch adgrunts here and would like their input on this) where Anne Frank was wearing one? Dutch Jewish group slams image of Anne Frank wearing kaffiyeh

Dabitch's picture

Oh, I hadn't seen that one. Who the heck is "T."? Some street art guy?

yarstberry's picture
Dabitch's picture

Muslim Matters throw their two cents in - yes, it's a paisley scarf.

Dabitch's picture

Hey did y'all see the Adage article on this today?

Rachael Ray's Paisley Scarf Puts Media on Orange Alert
Chases Its Own Tail Over Dunkin' Donuts 'Keffiyeh Kerfuffle'

Time was, the only reason a marketer would pull an ad was because it wasn't selling stuff. Now all that's required to knock a spot out of circulation is an outraged blogger with bad eyesight.

that made me laugh. then cry.

Andreas-Udd's picture

Since I didn't quite understand the hubub about this I had to google around, and found that someone named Michelle Malkin was quite upset about the paisley silk scarf as well. Then I googled her and find this. Classy, Fox news. At least now I know how seriously I should take this woman which is not at all.

AnonymousCoward's picture

This thread is hilarious!

Anonymous Adgrunt's picture

You found all of these celebrities in a keffiyeh but you missed out on Beckham, Sting and Cameron Diaz. This is all part of the globalization of symbols of nationalism. It's not an accident.

Dabitch's picture

"the globalization of symbols of nationalism" sounds like a great name for a political punk band