PC: Out of Control

Posted on May 29th, 2008 by Quantas Ginn

Every so often we hear about another marketer forced to bow to the pressures of this fringe group or that fringe group. Today buzz abounds about the Rachael Ray Dunkin Donuts online promotion that was pulled. Why was it pulled? Because some fringe group feels that the scarf she is wearing too closely resemble those worn by radical Muslim groups. This is Political Correctness run amok. Does this fringe group, or anyone else for that matter, really believe Rachael Ray or Dunkin Donuts endorse radical Islam? Does this group believe that radical Muslims will be strengthened and encouraged by Rachael Ray’s attire? Is Rachael Ray sending a code to signal something? Unfortunately, Dunkin Donuts became another marketer forced to bow to undue pressure from a fringe group. This is PC out of control. It will be nice to see more mass marketers stand up to groups like these especially when their assertions are outrageous. We can expect the niche marketers not to bow but mass marketers have to realize they can’t please all people all the time. Who knows…a little PR fight between Dunkin and fringeUSA probably would have resulted in more buzz thus more sales for Dunkin. But the world may never know…