When is a fringed black-and-white scarf just a scarf and when is it symbolic support for terror?  Dunkin Donuts is worried that their customers cannot tell the difference and has just yanked an online ad featuring the overexposed celebrity chef wearing a scarf.

The ad started running May 7 and according to the Boston Herald was pulled over the past weekend because "the possibility of misperception detracted from its original intention to promote our iced coffee."

The most vocal critic - conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, complained that the scarf looked similar to the black-and-white checkered kaffiyeh, the traditional Palestinian scarf.  The complaint is that these scarves have come to symbolize Muslim extremism and terrorism.

According to Malkin

"has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad. 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."

Little Green Footballs reports:
 

Dunkin Donuts, the venerable old fried dough seller, is the latest American firm to casually promote the symbol of Palestinian terrorism and the intifada, the kaffiyeh, via Rachael Ray

Bad call on the part of the Dunkin -- they should have kept the ads running and embraced the controversy.