It’s a strange day indeed when you can’t watch Rachael Ray wearing a scarf, but it seems that Dunkin’ Donuts knows how to make one good publicity stunt.

Does Dunkin’ Donuts really think its customers could mistake Rachael Ray for a terrorist sympathizer? The Canton-based company has abruptly canceled an ad in which the domestic diva wears a scarf that looks like a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men. Some observers, including ultra-conservative Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin, were so incensed by the ad that there was even talk of a Dunkin’ Donuts boycott. “The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad,” Malkin yowls in her syndicated column. “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.”

The Boston Globe

The keffiyeh is generally worn to protect the head from heat. It is not a particular symbol of any kind of terrorist, but rather an item of clothing worn by people living in hot climates, as it keeps the sun off the head (very important if you haven’t a great deal of hair) and soaks up the sweat. It is also worn by British soldiers, but called a shemaghs, because it keeps the head warm in cooler climates.

It became a symbol of Palestine after Yassar Arafat wore it.

This is more of a cultural garment, and I think Rachael Ray is wearing a scarf as a fashion accessory. The same way she might have worn a kimono, a tartan skirt or kilt, or a mandarin collar, without being a Geisha, Scottish clansman, or Chinese sympathizer.

Michelle Malkin, the columnist who got us all talking, had this to add:

“It’s refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists.”

I know this is going to cause some controversy, but it might have been nice to show some sensitivity to the people across the globe who wears this garment as a way to protect their heads from the weather, not to keep their hair out of their eyes while committing acts of terrorism.

I will also add that I am not American, but Australian, and the terrorists who attacked Australians in Indonesia, and the ones who committed the London tube bombings, did not wear a keffiyeh, so I don’t associate this headdress with terrorism, but maybe it is different to people living in the USA, following the images of Osama bin Laden after 9/11.