Naturally, neither the company nor the actress had any idea of what the thing means. So they received protests and pulled the ad. Obviously. They don't want to run any ads that offend any of their customers. That's bad business. For the same reason, they probably wouldn't dress their spokesmodels up in Obama T-shirts, McCain baseball caps, or a Red Sox jacket in a New York ad. Or the Confederate flag. Or a Che Guevara T-shirt. Or a KKK hood. Or an SS uniform.
In fact, I bet Spanish companies do the same thing. I bet you don't see a lot of American flags in Spanish ads, and that they wouldn't use someone in a US army uniform to promote a product in Spain. I bet they wouldn't use the Catalan flag in Madrid, or the Spanish flag in Barcelona, either. I doubt you would see a Spanish republican flag anywhere. I bet they don't show people wearing Falange blue shirts. Or Franco-era gray police uniforms. Or those T-shirts with big marijuana leaves on them. And I know for a fact that they never show anyone wearing either an Arab headscarf or a Jewish kipa.
In fact, I don't recall ever seeing anyone in a Spanish advertisement wearing a keffiyah, either.
So here are some of the comments:
More proof that Israel really governs in the US. No matter what they say, the Israelis are the most important power in the world: just remember their 60 years of occupation of Palestine, and the rest of the world letting it happen. FREE Palestine!
The poor Americans!
Multinationals take over everything because everything can become a consumer product. They've done it with hippie and punk symbols, and now "Palestinians" (apparently among some Spaniards an Arafat scarf is called merely a "Palestinian") Before, wearing a "Palestinian" had ideological connotations, now everybody wears them because they're in fashion. The ones who used to wear sweaters with American flags now wear "Palestinians." It is an abusive appropriation by the global multinationals to homogenize thoughts and appearances.
There are a lot of Jews loose around here.
Horrible! She's wearing pants too!!! Bin Laden wears pants too!!! People who cover their legs are terrorists!!! Worse than terrorists!!!
If you read the New york times (sic) you'll learn that the suicide rate in the navy (sic) is the highest in history, but why would they worry about that? Instead let's make a fuss about the Palestinian scarf.
What is coffee sweetened with? Sugar. What country produces sugar? Cuba. So the advertisement is communist propaganda. They're imbeciles.
In the US, they're truly ignorant, but they should not be excused. This ignorance is the fruit of their social, cultural, and economic dictatorship. This country is a real danger for our society, and not the "sources of immigration." They provoke and generate so much hate.
As Obelix would say, these Americans are crazy!
I imagine that many young consumers wear whatever is the most fashion (sic) without seeing any militant allegiance. Knowing the cultural level of many Americans, I would not be surprised if it is just another fad. In any case it is one more example of the intolerance that they have accustomed us to.
No comment...Thank you, Lord, that I am not American.
This is one more sign that the gringos are panicking, which is an ideal weapon for the conservative extremists in the United States, who are trying to eliminate all the cultures and religions different from theirs.
But does nobody remember the scandal of the nipple at the Super Bowl? This is more of the same. They don't worry about Guantanamo or other disasters, though.
Is this story serious? It seems so ridiculous to me that I can't believe it's true! Carrying an 8mm Magnum in your pocket is totally normal, moral, and legitimate, and wearing a "Palestinian" is a proclamation of terrorism? And I thought they used guns in war instead of "Palestinians"!
What a country...I hope we never become like them.
These Americans (from the North) with their mental illnesses, are stepping on individual and collective rights (traveling comfortably, wearing a scarf, or a T-shirt). The bad thing is that here there are many imitators of their model. Will we end up goose-stepping?
They can't show a scarf, but rifles, pistols, machine guns, tanks, bombs, that's not censored, on the contrary.
It's completely logical. Everybody knows that Palestinian scarves were produced by Arafat in a high-tech laboratory in order to make everyone who wears them a potential terrorist.
What poorly thinking people! Poor country! Ignorance cubed.
Even being a great power, the United States of North America, "paladins of freedom," are not precisely an example to imitate, but exactly the opposite. Their expansionist ambitions, united with their great ignorance about many subjects, the ease with which they let themselves be influenced by Zionist groups, have led them to commit innumerable errors that many of our countries refuse to condemn. CYNICISM, and nothing more.
All advertising actors should wear a Palestinian scarf in all the ads on European TV networks. It would be a good chance to remind the Americans of the holocaust they are committing against the Palestinian people.
I will never buy products with that brand again. We should prohibit all videos that show the American flag, which is the most bloodstained symbol in the history of humanity. It often appears in videos of people torturing in Guantanamo, dropping cluster-bombs, invade countries, kill democratically elected leaders of other countries, massacre entire peoples, and a long list of crimes against humanity. The United States is the greatest international terrorist.
THE RADICALS ARE THE AMERICANS!!
If this is the contry that calls itself "the land of freedom," where is that FREEDOM? I'm sure if she had been wearing a Jewish kippa or any other Zionist or militarist garment, then there would have been no problem. The only adjectives that fit are "UNEDUCATED", "IGNORANT", "ZIONISTS", "ILLITERATES", "MANIPULATORS", and their synonyms.
The message of the advertisement is exactly that: "choosing." Choosing my coffee shop, my coffee, my donuts, choosing to wear a Palestinian or Hindu scarf or live in an igloo...but retrograde and ignorant American society cannot understand these subtleties.
And then the Western world considers them tolerant and democratic! What repression! And what if the actress had been wearing a veil? Then, people who think differently are called anti-Semites. Please, it's just a scarf.
If they have such a bad opinion of Palestinian scarves, what must they think of Palestinian people?
Proven: 1. Human stupidity has no limits. 2. The power of the Jewish lobby in Israel.
There are Yankees who have no idea where they live.
These Americans are crazy. Ridiculous. They love looking for problems where there aren't any.
What a list of supine foolishness to justify fear of others. This is like fried potatoes, that became freedom fries instead of french fries because of pure chauvinism. Really, they make me sick. Because of a scarf!
What an absurd country! What if they worried about things that are really important!
I have 4 "Palestinians." This stupidity could only happen in the United States, where carrying a gun and killing people is normal, but having a cloth around your neck is bad. Ridiculous. What a "country of freedom."
This is ridiculous. I've been wearing a "Palestinian" since I was 15, and I do not support extreme Islamism, simply, I support a cause that has cost many lives, and I repudiate the injustice that has no end because it's not in the interest of the US.
Radical Islamists often wear blue jeans too. Let's prohibit them!
This perfectly shows the Islamophobia of the Americans. Now pieces of clothing are offensive and promote radicalism. Next thing they'll prohibit dark-skinned people or those who look like Arabs from television, we wouldn't want then to be Islamists and we don't realize it!
So if I drink Coca-Cola I'm an accomplice of Guantanamo? Of course, we've forgotten that the Americans are friends of the Israelis, and the Palestinian scarf is a symbol they don't like. They've given me an idea, I'm going to go out now and buy one.
Note the fact that many of these commenters don't know how to read; they've confused the decision of a private company with some sort of national ban on "Palestinians." Also note the fact that "Palestinians" are so fashionable in Spain that they have their own slang term; one guy even brags that he has four. Note the psychological need that many commenters have to feel individually superior to Americans. Note the widespread stereotyping of and ignorance about American people. Also note the bitter sarcasm, which is the verbal weapon of he who knows he has already lost.
Finally, note that the commenters drip hate for Americans individually and the American people as a culture and a nation. Though most anti-Americans deny such hate, claiming that they merely dislike the policies of the American government, they're lying.
By the way, did this story even make the news in the US? I haven't seen it anywhere, and I cover news on the Net pretty thoroughly. El Pais's article says they got it from the BBC, which isn't surprising, knowing the Beeb's particular biases.
10 comments:
I did not see it on news sites a couple of blogs were mentioning it.
Ms. Ray is a cook with a show on the Food Network.
I suppose some of those commenting on the story are desperate for Barcelona - New York flights to get cheap levi´s while hating the country and the people.
looking for shopping bargains overseas is not incongruous with hating the locals.
Also, remember the ad campaign for the Publico.....
Lots about Rachel Ray at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/rachael_ray/0,1974,FOOD_9928,00.html
Some news organizations picked up on the story.
http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/05/29/ray-scarf.html
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/05/rachel-rays-sca.html
Don´t know anything about the Publico ad campaign, sorry
Olberman did a bit on it. Surprise! It was linked from Hot Air or Instapundit a couple days ago. I don't know why but I clicked on the link. But I closed the browser tab after less than a minute. I really can't stomach that clown's voice.
Didn't a couple of morons try to drape Zapatero with one of those resistance tea-towels a year or so? At least he had the good sense to take it off almost immediately. But not before letting a picture of himself with it around his neck to be taken.
I guess ZP is a facha neo-con like Dunkin Donuts now as well.
Bob
You have to admit that deciding to remove the kheffiyah was corporate over-sensitivity. And you also have to admit that US policy consistently supports the Israel against the Palestinians, assuming they are the aggresors when they have had their country stolen within living memony.
However, some of those comments are very OTT, and a couple (if translated correctly) out and out anti-semitic.
1. It is not corporate over-sensitivity to pull an advertisement that is offending many of your customers. It is smart business.
2. Dunkin' Donuts' decision to pull the ad has absolutely nothing to do with US government policy. What do you think, the Secretary of Donuts in Washington is going around monitoring donut advertisement compliance with Jewish lobby-approved standards?
3. I completely support US policy toward Israel. I would not vote for an anti-Israeli political candidate. And I have no sympathy toward any of the Palestinian terrorist organizations, which have murdered so many of their own people. I particularly despise Yassir Arafat, who popularized the keffiyeh. In fact, I hope Israel destroys all of those gangs of assassins.
Why does nobody ever mention that nearly 75% of Israel was purchased for cash money from Arab terratenientes and the bulk of the rest came from the British. The Palestinians, having never had anything to lose, should have taken note of the freedom that such a phenomenon bestows about 60 years ago, but then again, that really wouldn't have been in the interest of the European nations that were fresh off having tried to exterminate the Jews.
Firstly: anon, I suspect your stats are dodgy. But even if they were true, cash can't buy sovereignty.
John: The USA consistently supports Israel. Israel is built on top of land the Palestinians were driven out of, Israel is continuing this process in the occupied territories, driving out the original inhabitants and planting settlements. How can this be fair, or even in US interests?
Wow, the Secretary of Donuts?! When does the assistant secretary for coffee show up or does coffee get a separate department. As for the Racheal Ray thing, it's stupid, true, and some people spend an awful lot of time looking for things to be offended at these days, but if Dunkin Donuts doesnt want to offend the customers, how is that an indictment of the United States? Dunkin Donuts is in business to sell donuts and coffee; they are not a branch of US foreign policy. No one is compelling Dunkin Donuts to pull the ad; if they wanted to tell whoever complained to get a life then the whiners would just had to have sucked it up and moved on to the next thing to complain about. That concept seems to be beyond many of the commenters John quoted here today.
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