Dunkin Donuts has killed an advertising campaign featuring top chef, Rachael Ray, because of the scarf she wore in the advertisement(s).
Some Right-wing fringe blogger by the name of Michelle Malkin began commenting on the fashion accessory, claiming it "supported" Muslim extremists, as it is apparently along the same style as scarves worn by extremists in beheading videos.
While, quite possibly, the stupidest thing anyone has said - or even suggested - in at least a month or so (which is really saying something), the whole idea apparently picked-up impetus to the point that Dunkin Donuts pulled the entire campaign!
Now, again, this broad is very obviously an incredibly stupid blogger who is simply abusing political and religious lunacy to boost her own readership and popularity, but it says a lot about the power of blogging and the Web, in general. At the bottom of the story, a single lunatic managed to get a multi-billion-dollar corporation to pull a multi-million-dollar advertising campaign featuring one of the most popular TV and culinary celebrities today just by blowing smoke on her little pixel park!
Granted, the outcry has resulted in more of a backlash against her than anything else, but in the meanwhile, Michelle Malkin has cemented her position as some kind of blogger. While her resultant "image" is correctly that of her being a delusional, xenophobic, and completely ignorant individual, the fact of the matter is that this lone blogger managed to change the immediate face of pop-culture simply by blogging!
I have no idea who this chick is, do not care, and assume she will soon disappear, but she is one of the new-age of bloggers who has managed to actually influence major corporations, media outlets, and the very news in America. In fact, I was not going to write this simply because I did not want to add to her "celebrity," but seeing as how any reasoning adult (or even a mildly-retarded toddler) can see this for what it is, I figure I'm on safe ground.
It just goes to show how powerful this medium can be - and such power always leads to abuse by some.
© C Harris Lynn, 2008
If you are as outraged and confused by this whole mess as most of us are, vote here on YouChoose.
ReplyDelete