11 December 2014

Nazi imagery on products


Buzzfeed has an article by David Mack about really bad product design:
Hallmark recalled a line of Hanukkah wrapping paper this week after one sharp-eyed shopper noticed swastikas hidden among a geometric pattern.
Cheryl Shapiro (photo) told ABC News she was stunned to notice the swastikas emblazoned on the blue and silver gift wrap while shopping at a Walgreens in Northridge, California, on 4 December 2014. “It blew me away,” Shapiro said. “What the hell was that doing on there?” Her complaint prompted the store to remove the paper from its shelves, with Walgreens’ corporate headquarters and the paper’s manufacturer, Hallmark, following swiftly behind.
It is, of course, worth noting that the swastika started out as an ancient sacred symbol before it was eventually co-opted by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. But the swastika gift wrap is just the latest in a long line of products to cause outrage this year because of their real or perceived Nazi allusions.
Back in April of 2014, a store in Germany said it was horrified to learn it had ordered five thousand mugs from a Chinese manufacturer that featured faint images of Hitler’s face on a postage stamp. The Zurbrüggen furniture chain apologized for what it said was a “terrible” mistake, and even offered refunds for the 175 mugs that had been sold prior to the Führer’s face being spotted.
In May of 2014, Procter & Gamble pulled a line of detergent from Germany after unintentionally referencing Nazis on the packaging. The soap featured an image of a white t-shirt with the number 18, a numeric code frequently used by neo-Nazis to refer to Adolf Hitler (with 1 and 8 referring to the first and eighth letters of the alphabet, A and H).
In August of 2014, Spanish clothing retailer Zara issued a mea culpa for selling a shirt to children that resembled clothing that Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust. The company said the yellow star on the shirt was inspired by sheriffs’ badges in western films and was not intended to be a Star of David.
That same month, a North Carolina woman found a butter swastika in the bun of her McDonald’s chicken sandwich, prompting the fast food chain to issue an apology and fire an employee.
In October of 2014, another Spanish retailer, Mango, recalled a blouse which featured lightning bolts that people had compared to the insignia worn by Nazi SS soldiers. Also in October, Hitler’s face appeared on the label of mini creamers, leading a Swiss retailer to apologize for the “unforgivable incident.”
Rico says that those who do not remember history are forced to repeat it as kitsch...

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