Dunkin' Donuts Caves in to Nuts

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  remrich@...05/29/08 Report as spam
  1

  Dunkin Donuts should not have caved...

  I had to get a look at this ad, and she doesn't even have the scarf on her head, it is around her neck! That woman was insane to be construing anything from that scarf being in the ad. What is this world coming too? Dunkin Donuts shouldn't have pulled that ad, I would have left it on because all her ranting would have drawn attention to what a lunatic she was and had people searching to get a look at the ad.

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  mvaleriano05/29/08 Report as spam
  2

  absolutely agree

  Talk about a case of crying wolf... Michelle Malkin is undermining her own credibility by being hysterical over a non-issue. Dunkin Donuts, if you want America to "run on" your brand, stop running with a pack of crazy finger pointers!

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  Timpraetor05/29/08 Reported as spam
  3

  RE: Dunkin' Donuts Caves in to Nuts

  I don't like the fact that you use a sans-serif font on your blog site. It reminds
  be of a frightening sign I saw in 1971 about Venereal Diseases that frightened
  me as a naive 11 year old into worry about my genitalia until I understood that
  you actually had to have a sexual relationship with someone in order to contract
  a venereal disease. In fact, I'm now so traumatized that I think that the entire,
  sans-serif internet should be shut down and you should pay me 1 BILLION
  dollars for my stress.

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  Timpraetor05/29/08 Report as spam
  4

  Uhhh - mode was thoroughly engaged

  In case you didn't figure it out, I was being highly cynical in that post. In fact,
  on a serious note, I believe that Rachel Ray should sue Malkin for implying that
  she was a left wing celebrity with a Jihadist bent. Everyone knows that Rachel
  isn't a celebrity (oops, I've done it again)...

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  meryllogue@...05/29/08 Report as spam
  5

  Very disappointing

  It reminds me of the "moral" vocal minority of the '70s. This is a nutcase for even bringing that up. And shame on DD for caving in to her. But it is not unusual. We have always tended to cave to the louder voices because "they must be right." They obviously know something I don't know because they are able to articulate so clearly and loudly about something that I am afraid I must be dumb/stupid/ignorant about because I haven't seen it or even know for sure what they are talking about but they are talking about terrorists and radical Islamists and I really don't know much about them so it is probably safer to just agree and let them lead me/us to safety. Gah!

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  justjonsf05/29/08 Reported as spam
  6

  Message has been deleted.

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  jonpape05/29/08 Report as spam
  7

  RE: Dunkin' Donuts Caves in to Nuts

  I think this illustrates a bigger problem, executives don't know why in a nut-job and who is an influencer on the web. If a reporter on NBC is discussing your brand vs. a wacko on cable access, its easy to prioritize. However, on the web with Google Alerts, any message will eventually end up on your radar with little knowledge or information on this person position or authority on the subject.

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  kvanhook05/29/08 Report as spam
  8

  RE: Dunkin' Donuts Caves in to Nuts

  Typical over=reaction to the ever-expanding array of "politically correct" nonsense.

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  morristrm05/29/08 Report as spam
  9

  RE: Dunkin' Donuts Caves in to Nuts

  Dunkin Donuts did the right thing. It is in the business of selling donuts. It wants no possible distraction. If one person does not like the scarf, that's a valid reason for dumping it. It did not cave in to nuts. It caved in to potential customers. It had nothing to gain by keeping the ad. The type of people who expect a donut company to stand up for a supposed "right" of a model to wear a certain garment aren't likely to buy donuts anyways. They probably eat croissants. (My favorite, personally)

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  mikezimmer99905/29/08 Report as spam
  10

  True, but...

  I think you're right, and I actually have the same position with respect to the actions of the company. I think that the core issue is really with the behavior of Michelle Malkin for making the spurious association between Ray and a fashion accessory with Islamic terrorism, more-or-less forcing Dunkin Donuts into the action that they took.

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  Stephen629405/29/08 Report as spam
  11

  It does look like a Pali-scarf

  That scarf does look like the jihad-chic that you see on lefty celebs now and again. I suspect that Dunkin' knows the difference, and I'd love to know who the stylist was. Perhaps the same one that picked out this bag? http://tinyurl.com/5mxxlk

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  AZkjp05/29/08 Report as spam
  12

  It would be nice...

  ...if the lefties would at remember their own public nutjobs (see comment above). I would even put out there that if it wasn't for the liberal Hollywood types always trying to subversively put one over on the American public, you wouldn't get a reaction like this from Ms. Malkin. Why exactly is it that public figures don't get the benefit of the doubt? It's couldn't be the because of the Baldwins and the Penns and Obermann's of the world, could it?

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  mbmattis@...05/30/08 Report as spam
  13

  Distracted

  "Dunkin Donuts did the right thing. It is in the business of selling donuts. It wants no possible distraction..."
  
  And yet here we are, distracted.

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  mikezimmer99905/29/08 Report as spam
  14

  RE: Dunkin' Donuts Caves in to Nuts

  Shame on Michelle Malkin for doing this. It's the same sort of right-wing garbage of linking somebody being against the war in Iraq with being "soft on terror[ism]" or unsupportive of our troops. When somebody like Malkin does this, it detracts from the valid points that she might have. But we need to remember that she is an entertainer, and keeps her job on the basis of ratings. Therefore, it shouldn't come as a huge surprise that she'd engage in this kind of nonsense.
  
  I have more sympathy for Dunkin Donuts. Since the general public is wont to uncritically accept inflammatory, jingoistic assertions, especially where something Arabic or Islamic is involved, the company probably did the right thing from the standpoint of their commercial well-being.

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  tsfleck05/29/08 Report as spam
  15

  RE: Dunkin' Donuts Caves in to Nuts

  Speaking of 'nutbags'? I guess if she would have been wearing the Confederate flag we could say that would also then be appropriate. Double standards from the leftie 'dirtbags'

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  justjonsf05/29/08 Report as spam
  16

  first of all

  hardly the same thing....the scarf Rachael is wearing is black and white paisley!
  Again Paisley! I do not think arafat or the muslims or the terrorists wear
  anything paisley!
  
  Lemme guess...you fly a confederate flag on your truck bumber don't you?!
  thought so...idiot

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  justjonsf05/29/08 Report as spam
  17

  RE: Dunkin' Donuts Caves in to Nuts

  thank god someone said this is STUPID...michelle malkin should be bound and
  gagged forever....personally if Dunkin Doughnuts can't stand up and say "shut
  up" to the stupidity then I will get my doughnuts from Safeway!

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  Jake Swearingen05/29/08 Report as spam
  18

  A Response over in Advertising

  I updated my own post over at Advertising with a response, but I have to say morristrm pretty much summed up my feelings with this comment (minus the culture war dig):
  
  Dunkin Donuts did the right thing. It is in the business of selling donuts. It wants no possible distraction. If one person does not like the scarf, that's a valid reason for dumping it. It did not cave in to nuts. It caved in to potential customers. It had nothing to gain by keeping the ad. The type of people who expect a donut company to stand up for a supposed "right" of a model to wear a certain garment aren't likely to buy donuts anyways. They probably eat croissants. (My favorite, personally)

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  DanMitchell05/29/08 Report as spam
  19

  well...

  I guess my point is that most potential customers aren't the kinds of people who buy into crazy claims like this. And I think most of them, if they heard about this at all, would think more of Dunkin for standing up for itself rather than appeasing publicity hounds. Simply say "she's nuts: it's just a scarf," and move on.
  
  And if advertising has to avoid annoying "even one person" -- even if that one person is deranged -- I fear for the future of the advertising industry. Most ads will annoy or offend someone. (For instance, I cannot stand that incredibly loud, beeping horn in the current VW "sign and drive" spot.)
  
  There's also the (admittedly thorny) matter of corporate self-respect at issue here. I know I wouldn't want to be an executive at a company that decided to allow Michelle Malkin (or her left-wing equivalent) to dictate how I did business. I guess that's why I'm not a corporate executive, but still -- it seems like a slippery slope.

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  Jake Swearingen05/29/08 Report as spam
  20

  Yes, but...

  You make good points. And you're right, no company should base a marketing campaign around whether or not one person doesn't like it, or gets offended. But I think, in the balance, Dunkin' Donuts still made the right choice here.
  
  I'm not sure how much positive play Dunkin' Donuts gets from standing tall on the scarf issue versus how much howling from Malkin and her supporters costs them. And they can howl; go check out Absolut's corporate blog sometime, after the blow up of Mexican Absolut ad -- over 7000 total comments to the two blog posts talking about the matter.
  
  I think we agree that the whole controversy was silly as hell, and that in a perfect world, Dunkin' Donuts would have ignored Malkin. And Dunkin' Donuts isn't something like a vodka brand, which lives and dies almost completely by its brand image because all vodka tastes pretty much the same. People like Dunkin' Donuts because they like the taste of the coffee and the donuts, and even if they had kept the ad up, I don't think you'd suddenly see people with "NOW SERVING JIHAD" signs outside store locations.
  
  But what the company sacrificed was one web video ad, which I cannot imagine they spent a huge amount on. If Malkin had called for Rachael Ray to be dropped from the campaign, then Dunkin' Donuts should have rightly said "She's nuts: it's just a scarf." But they lost little to avoid what potentially could have been a headache that would require their PR and marketing departments time, effort, and money to rectify.

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  David P Hamilton05/29/08 Report as spam
  21

  Keep it civil, people

  Have at the issue to your heart's content, but there's no need for name-calling or abuse of fellow commenters. Trespassers in this respect will be violated, and your comments will quickly pass from this page, never to be seen again.

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  AZkjp05/29/08 Report as spam
  22

  "Malkin and her ilk"

  Have at the issue to your heart's content, but there's no need for name-calling or abuse of fellow commenters. Trespassers in this respect will be violated, and your comments will quickly pass from this page, never to be seen again.
  
  Lib blog rule number 1:
  
  Do as I say, not as I do...
  
  Boo Hoo Hoo

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  gilballen05/29/08 Report as spam
  23

  Too late. Brand Dan Mitchell is soiled.

  "Keep it civil, people" Too late. Dan Mitchell's brand is soiled. Name calling --- instead of reasoning ?? DD did the proper thing for their brand.
  If the scarf can even remotely be construed as a keffiyeh -- then it is such. Like it or not.
  And if the keffiyeh is construed by reasonable people -- and it rightly is -- to be a symbol of the Palestinian struggle, then it IS and shouldn't be used with your product.
  Brand Dan Mitchell: "Think Yasser Arafat." Okay... I'm kinda, sorta thinking Yasser is not Santa Claus Lite. Maybe sorta, kinda like a leader of a terrorist group. Killed lotsa' people. Ummmm... unless Brand Dan Martin thinks Yasser was just another conspiracy??
  DD and RR were not endorsing causes. DD did the right thing by putting this to sleep. Business lesson to learn for us all.

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  DanMitchell05/29/08 Report as spam
  24

  RE: Dunkin' Donuts Caves in to Nuts

  Just to clarify: my criticism of Dunkin' Donuts has nothing to do with politics. Politics aren't even really involved here. Calling a paisley scarf "jihadi chic" isn't a political statement -- it's a publicity stunt. My reaction to Dunkin's reaction would have been precisely the same if the 9/11 conspiracy theorists had decided that Ray's blouse contained hidden messages of support to Halliburton executives and the Republican National Committee.

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  steveo@...05/29/08 Report as spam
  25

  RE: Dunkin' Donuts Caves in to Nuts

  So, an advertising image unintentionally uses a jihadi symbol and expresses solidarity with those who want to kill most Americans and all Jews.
  
  Why it is unprofitable to pull the ad the author never actually says.
  
  If it were a confederate flag, would the author feel the same way? He seems more familiar with "Malkin and her ilk" than with jihadi symbols.

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  DanMitchell05/29/08 Report as spam
  26

  scarf

  It didn't use a jihadi symbol, intentionally or otherwise. It was a silk, paisley scarf.

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  AZkjp05/29/08 Report as spam
  27

  Perception

  Ray?s scarf looks little like a keffiyeh, save that it is black and white, which is one version of the garment.
  
  In marketing, perception is everything.
  
  DD should be thanking MM. Those who complain about some aspect of your business make the business aware of issues that others likely feel, but don't share. She is far more valuable to DD than all of the focus groups that DD did/could/should have run for this ad. Whatever you think about her followers, they buy coffee, know (and are sick of) subversive liberal Holly-wierd types who are constantly pushing anti-American agendas (many times subtly), and have many choices for where they can get their coffee.

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  johnlavett05/29/08 Report as spam
  28

  Dan Mitchell should learn what the keffiyeh really means

  I reckon that Dunkin' Donuts had no idea that they were promoting the Palestinian cause and that the advertising agency didn't even tell them what the keffiyeh represents, which Dan Mitchell really should look up, as he would probably have a different view...

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  DanMitchell05/29/08 Report as spam
  29

  but...

  I do know what a keffiyeh is. But it doesn't matter what it is, because she wasn't wearing one. She was wearing a scarf. I'm not sure how to put that more plainly to increase understanding. It seems like such a simple concept.

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  bdfrazier05/29/08 Report as spam
  30

  Bet Dan Knows What The Keffiyeh Means

  Not sure everyone here is aware of it's history. The keffiyeh has been around long before it was used by Arafat. Indeed it has been used by people of many countries for many uses. The scarf / headdress has seen use in Hollywood during the 1920s, in World War II by British soldiers and currently by our military in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is amazing how something meant to provide protection from the sun, sand and dust has been reduced to a silly controversy so far from the actual truth.

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  oakye05/29/08 Report as spam
  31

  How come no one has mentioned....

  * The ol' P&G logo that proved the president was a Satanist and gave profits to the Church of Satan
  (http://www.snopes.com/business/alliance/procter.asp) (Oh oops, P&G eventually DID re-do their logo...a sign of modernization or more?)
  
  * The nake* man hidden in the Camel cigarettes illustration
  (http://www.snopes.com/business/hidden/camel.asp)
  
  (and Disney's "The Little Mermaid" poster controversy would take this thread in a whole 'nother direction!)

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  nbbdon05/29/08 Report as spam
  32

  RE: Dunkin' Donuts Caves in to Nuts

  I am glad they pulled the add. And as a working nurse I am sick of the people like you who make fun of simple conservatives and non-elitists. But one day, when you need one of us, or a cop, or a public service....suddenly you will understand - perhaps.

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  gearjamr05/30/08 Reported as spam
  33

  RE: Dunkin' Donuts Caves in to Nuts

  Dunkin Donuts could dissappear from my nieghborhood and i could care less there coffee I don't care for thier donuts are nasty filled with commercial over sweetened fillers etc etc any ways,if it hurts thier image oh well all i got to say is dumb a@*# as for rachel ray she's good love watching her show when i can and she could find better companies to be a paid spokes person for.

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  BizTechNet05/30/08 Report as spam
  34

  Get OVER IT!

  Hey, DD! I still like the coffee. I still like the North Canton and Alliance, OH shops. I also personally believe that the majority of people have altogether too much time on their hands if this is such an issue of concern. We should ALL have way too many more important things to be concerned about in this world than RR's wardrobe.
  
  DD: Keep up the good work! The rest: Get over it & get on with life...

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  gerardmclean06/02/08 Report as spam
  35

  It is not the scarf, it is the COFFEE

  People, it is not the scarf that is the travesty, but the COFFEE!! Try some real
  coffee at http://www.plainjoe.com
  
  Don't worry about the nuts, there is plenty on our site that you can tear apart as
  well.. from sex to mommy blogs to puppy dogs... when you get tired of ripping
  DD apart, give us a whirl!!

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  ingoodcompany06/02/08 Report as spam
  36

  Joseph McCarthy

  Source: Wikipedia - "Joseph McCarthy"
  
  "Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 ? May 2, 1957) served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period of intense anti-communist suspicion inspired by the tensions of the Cold War.[1] He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the federal government and elsewhere. Ultimately, McCarthy's tactics and his inability to substantiate his claims led to his being discredited and censured by the United States Senate. The term "McCarthyism," coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy's practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist pursuits. Today the term is used more generally to describe demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents.[2]"
  
  Everyone should read about this man, and the America that fell in line behind him. The ingredients are all still here. All that's needed is a match to ignite the fervor once again.

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  Dr. Fuchs09/11/08 Report as spam
  37

  Dunkin' more clever than the nuts!

  Dunkin' Donuts is a very clever brand and it's
  unfortunate that in our age of push button political
  correctness, the powers that be over-reacted by pulling
  the ad of air. It's interesting to see the contrast of
  marketing approaches that Dunkin's rival Starbucks
  takes...more about this on http://www.chatterbox-
  cafe.com/page2.html
  
  The chatterbox

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  Dr. Fuchs09/11/08 Report as spam
  38

  RE: Dunkin' Donuts Caves in to Nuts

  Dunkin' Donuts is a very clever brand and it's unfortunate
  that in our age of push button political correctness, the
  powers that be over-reacted by pulling the ad of air. It's
  interesting to see the contrast of marketing approaches
  that Dunkin's rival Starbucks takes...more about this on
  http://www.chatterbox-cafe.com/page2.html
  
  The chatterbox

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  masslover08/19/09 Report as spam
  39

  RE: Dunkin' Donuts Caves in to Nuts

  In June 2009, Dunkin' Donuts announced the opening of at least 12 Dunkin' Donuts restaurants in the Dayton, Ohio region. All twelve of the stores are set to be opened by 2011.
  That is like 2 years later!!
  Anyway for Dunkin Donut lovers, you can get a free Dunkin' Donuts gift at:
  http://blogpower.org/l/go.php?action=kittypic