China's LeTV Godwins Apple with Hitler poster

Via The Verge

According to The Verge, this poster for Chinese internet video site Leshi TV (LeTV) is making a rather awful comparison of Apple to a dictator who caused millions of innocent people to be murdered.

LeTV's founder, Jia Yueting, posted the image to his Weibo page. The Verge explains:

The text across the top of the poster compares the attributes of the Android and iOS ecosystems — "Crowdsourced, freedom vs arrogance, tyranny" — while Jia's accompanying post argues that Apple's approach to the smartphone industry is stifling innovation and harming the interests of users.

Apple is certainly worthy of criticism on its proprietary shenanigans, but Hitler?

Dangerous Minds has delved into the strange world of "Hitler Chic" in Asian countries, including China. One quote, from the manager of a clothing shop in Hong Kong that received complaints from tourists about a Nazi-themed window display was especially telling: “This is Hong Kong, and Chinese people are not sensitive about Nazism.”

I suppose it's not that far-fetched to see the Holocaust as something very distant from the experiences of people in China. But does that make this OK? Not for their Western neighbours, anyway.

Church billboard quotes Hitler on children

The Columbus, Georgia, Ledger-Enquirer reports that this billboard was placed by Life Saver Ministries, a Christian organization that promises "to reach the weakest and the forgotten, the 'at risk' children from the roughest areas," apparently with the wisdom of Adolph Hitler as well as Proverbs 22:6.

The billboard went up last Friday in Auburn, Alabama, and has since been removed. "We are pulling the billboard and certainly never intended to cause confusion," Life Saver Ministries founder James Anderegg told the Ledger-Enquirer. "Herbert Hoover would have been a far better one to quote when he said, 'Children are our most valuable resource. We are a children’s organization and had honorable intentions and nothing less."

Umm... sure.

Islamophobic ad featuring Hitler says "stop racism"

Oh, that's rich.

This is just the latest PR stunt by "The American Freedom Defense Initiative" a rabidly anti-Islam group that insists every single Muslim is a radical bent on genocide.

This ad, according to the Washington Post, features Adolf Hitler talking to Haj Amin al-Husseini, the grand mufti of Jerusalem who supported the Holocaust.

AFDI claim their ads are a response to "the vicious Jew-hating ads … unleashed on Washington DC Metro buses last month.” by American Muslims for Palestine:

The AMP ad, reminding Americans that some of their tax money goes to Israeli aid, it certainly politically charged. But it just doesn't seem quite as over-the-top as the response.

Perhaps all sides of religious conflicts should make an agreement not to judge each other by the acts of their worst zealots, or the bloodthirsty and weird writings of their ancestors. We can debate US foreign policy until we're red, white, and blue in the face, but the only sure way to lose the argument is to succumb to Godwin's Law.

Today's unnecessary use of Hitler in an ad is brought to you by Comfort Fabric Conditioner

Via AOTW

Enough already, Ogilvy & Mather Mumbai. This is not only insulting to the rest of the world, but also to one of your greatest social justice leaders.

Other examples of Godwin's Law:

Hitler employed as shampoo pitchman
It was inevitable: This blog is Godwinned (slight nudity)

"We are not men... we are not an advertising agency"

Remember that horrible "manly" Turkish shampoo ad with Hitler in it?

Employees of a Turkish ad agency sure do. And they hate what it has done to the reputation of their country, and their industry.

So they decided to do what any red-blooded Turkish men would do to fight back: they got in drag.

Adland reports that Farkyeri issued this statement:

“We are not men… 

We, as a local advertising agency in Turkey, hereby condemn the unfortunate commercial produced in March 2012 by an advertising agency from our country for a shampoo brand in our country by using the images of a speech delivered by Adolf Hitler. 

From a humanistic perspective, it is shameful to use as a commercial material the tragedy of a genocide that caused the death of millions of innocent people and an international problem of gender apartheid which results in oppression and killing of millions of people. In terms of creativeness, it is simply cheapness and taking the easy way out. We are first human and then advertising agency. We never accept any concession on our humanity for the work we do. We refer those who carried out this cheapness to the conscience of the public. We believe that the advertisers and consumers in our country will give them the best answer. 

The belief of any publicity is good publicity can be argued, but there is no question about the good and bad people. This is clearly an attempt to make a commercial profit on the grief of millions of people. This is a shameful human weakness. And this is unfortunately done by an advertising agency in this country. 

As a matter of fact, if manhood is racism and gender apartheid… if it is to use grief of millions of oppressed and massacred innocent people as a commercial material, we are not men! If those who prepared this are advertiser and if this is called advertising, we are not an advertising agency! 

Farkyeri"

The above image is also the landing page of their web site.

And now there's a video, too:



Wonderful way to self-promote while making a real statement. (Coincidentally, the season opener of Mad Men had Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce do something remarkably similar, but against Y&R's racism.)

Hitler employed as shampoo pitchman

A bizarre story from The Drum. This Turkish shampoo brand has decided not only to be unforgivably sexist, but to Godwin up their ad as well:

"Beneath the images of the Nazi leader the firm typed the message 'If you are not wearing a woman’s dress, you should not use her shampoo either.' 

The piece then concludes: 'Here it is, a real men’s shampoo, Biomen.'"

So, Hitler is a "real man"?

Turkey was neutral for most of the Second World War, sheltering Jewish refugees from Europe.

Abraham H. Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League's National Director, issued this statement:

“This video is just the latest example of the use of Holocaust imagery in some countries to sell commercial products, which has contributed to the trivialization of and desensitization to the unparalleled horrors of the Holocaust. There can never be any justifiable purpose for using the images of Hitler, Nazis or any other depiction of the Nazi killing machine to sell products or services.”

Of course we've seen the Nazi leader in ads before. But usually as a symbol of evil, not as a "macho" pitchman.

Happy New Year... WTF?

I found this postcard in a box of old family records a few years ago, and just stumbled upon it again in my New Year's cleanup:

Yes, that's what you think it is... but it's also not what you think it is. Here's the back:

Many of you will already be aware that the swastika is a very ancient symbol that was appropriated by the Nazis. That had already happened before 1922, when this card was sent, but it was much better known at the time as a charming old "good luck" symbol.

Here are some other examples:

The innocence of the symbol would soon end, in the west anyway. The swastika is still a popular religious and folkloric insignia in Asia. You can even see it on packaged goods at the Chinese grocery store.

But it still freaks me out. It's just a symbol, but it's one that we've been raised to have a visceral reaction to. From health, wealth and happiness to hate, genocide and war. It's amazing that a little cross could carry so much baggage.

Here's to a year ahead with as little evil as possible.

It was inevitable: This blog is Godwinned (slight nudity)

Not even a social issues marketing blog is immune from Godwin's Law, which states "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1"...

Well, here it is. An ad by Germany's das comitee that compares AIDS to Hitler:



And here it is in German:



The steamy TV ad can be seen here: (warning: there's even more nudity and sex in it)

Aids is a mass murderer @ Yahoo! Video

And here's the campaign web site.

So, is this more, less, or just as justified as the rejected World Trade Center WWF ads that I blogged last week? Does 60+ years make a historical event less inappropriate as a PSA hook?

Personally, I just find this shock ad a little creatively lazy. The reason Godwin's Law is an internet meme is because invoking Hitler or Nazis in a non-WWII-themed discussion is seen as a lazy troll tactic. Is this ad any better, just because it's for an important cause?

If shock ads are what it takes to further raise AIDS awareness in the 21st century, I prefer the French approach.

UPDATE: Vice Magazine covers the PR hitlerf*ck of the agency's explanation. (via @Copyranter)