May 21, 2010
"We have ridiculed Hitler in a way that invites young people to create their own style and not to be influenced by their peers."
An ad agency tries to convey the fuzzy thinking about nonconformity behind this 18-foot-high poster:
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36 comments:
Historically, Cambia is part of the United Colors of Benetton! This is my last territorial demand in the fashion industry.
while gunning for attention, ad agency ends up with notoriety .... and goes bust a few months later.
Not cool.
Another non-occasion for the thought police to get their panties in a bunch.
Was Hitler anyone's peer?
I don't mind the appropriation and the intent to ridicule. I rarely get offended over anything.
However, the Nazi's were quite adept at 'style.' Dare I say, outside of the Soviets, they were certainly masters of effective propaganda, and created an appealing aesthetic.
A tacit admission that Hitler was a homo. Which should make him a more sympathetic figure to our current crop of best and brightest socialists. More because as a socialist he was already viewed sympathetically by our socialist betters. But as a light in the loafers socialist? Why there's no telling how much of a rehabilitation he'll enjoy.
Do they reall think this will sell more over priced rag wear? Seems like a stupid ad campaign.
Ridicule Hitler? Yea that's real nonconformist. NTTIAWWT, but it's hardly edgy.
I loved the advertisement. It does make one think about not following the Mind Control propagandists from 1932 or those from 2010. Yet I can see how deep the hatred of that image can be to a European who remembers that he actually tried to kill everbody and nearly succeeded. The German Propaganda made Schickelgruber's image look like any other Great Cesar type; and he could also cause his audiences to sexually respond to the power of his speeches, notwithstanding the strange pagan thoughts mixed in with it.
The ads are smile-worthy. If anything, the irony of an ad agency telling you to think by yourself, should be enough to brighten your day.
I work in advertising, and have discussed this a little more at my ad-related blog AdBadger
Hey... Badger ... that's a Wisconsin-y thing!
WV: bledic. A medic who is unable to heal thyself?
TraditionalGuy: " he could also cause his audiences to sexually respond to the power of his speeches, notwithstanding the strange pagan thoughts mixed in with it."
I never heard of this. The guys in the audience had erections? The woman orgasms?
I have heard of the latter actually, though not in relation to Hitler. Our high school hired the Brooklyn rock group, the Vox Poppers, to play at our senior prom. They missed the date so they came instead the following Monday and played at a high school assembly. The girls (this was western Pennsylvania) went absolutely wild. As we were leaving after the performance I remember a kid saying that the girl next to him left a big wet spot in her seat. I remember thinking, "What??? She peed on her seat?"
I see another Hitler/Downfall parody on the horizon.
Yes, nothing says nonconformism like taking your marching orders from a slick mass market ad campaign.
I don't think it's offensive - it's clearly ridiculing Hitler and not holding him up as an object of praise and admiration.
Or, more importantly, even if it is offensive, so what? You have no right to sail through life unoffended.
Pretty in Pink campaign likely created by a group of people, for a group of people, to target a group people, all who have little to no idea who or what Hitler was.
Similar to those who hang posters of Mao.
This was (supposed to be) the first in a series. Next up was Mao. The idea was that people should be a little more discriminating about whom they emulate.
Not a bad idea, when you think about it.
ricpic said...
A tacit admission that Hitler was a homo. Which should make him a more sympathetic figure to our current crop of best and brightest socialists. More because as a socialist he was already viewed sympathetically by our socialist betters. But as a light in the loafers socialist? Why there's no telling how much of a rehabilitation he'll enjoy.
Not too many buy that. He may have been into D&S a little (some of the details of his thing with Geli Raubal seem to go that way), but that seems to be it.
The Krauts got tarred with that brush because of Ernst Rohm and his pals.
But I do see your point, sir.
E.M. Davis said...
Was Hitler anyone's peer?
I don't mind the appropriation and the intent to ridicule. I rarely get offended over anything.
However, the Nazi's were quite adept at 'style.' Dare I say, outside of the Soviets, they were certainly masters of effective propaganda, and created an appealing aesthetic.
In answer to your question, Stalin and Mao made him look like a piker, but he tried to foster a 'folk comrade' concept in Germany where he was the trend-setter. You can make your own punchline.
"That's what the bloody Boche have - style", Trevor Howard to Edward Mulhare, 'Von Ryan's Express'.
Isn't that Peter Sellers in The Pink Panzer?
Duscany...The histories that I have read say that Mr Schicklgruber had become an adept at making a sexual connection to an audience using a " sex Magic " craft. The audiences did not have orgasms so much as they simply fell in love with speakers intentionally projected persona. Watch one of Der Fuhrer's speeches on U-tube, if you are able to stand up to it. This practice required all of his libido strength be sublimated into this use, and he therefore had no known sexual relations with women or with men.
So true. "Young people" really like to "create their own style" (and not to be so influenced by, say, history).
Perfect:
Hitler's now a member of Green Day!
BTW wouldn't Il Duce have been more relevant?
"The use of an image of a person responsible for the worst chapters of the last century is offensive to our country's constitutional principles and to the sensitivities of citizens," he said.
This is not a pipe. This is [Hitler], playing with the surrealist's famous statement about the necessary disjuncture between a picture and the thing it seeks to represent.
As someone who has worked in advertising, I always made a concerted effort not to insult the audience's intelligence.
But that's just me.
What's the big deal? People are buying consumer items emblazoned with the hammer and sickle, which represent a regime that killed more people than Hitler. Does anyone bat an eye at mass-murderer Che Guevara's image on t-shirts?
Bullshit like this trivializes Hitler's evil and be extension the Holocaust and the 50 million who died in WW2.
Count me out.
I think it is horrible when people
use images of Hitler for comedy!
It's just not right.
A number of people who observed the various Party functions noted that some women swooned with all the outward signs of climax. Whether they actually got off may be debated, but they looked like it, so tradguy is on the money.
There was a special years ago - "The Seduction of a Nation", I believe it was called, which detailed it.
Alex said...
Bullshit like this trivializes Hitler's evil and be extension the Holocaust and the 50 million who died in WW2.
No more than putting Mao in pop art paintings or Che Guevara on t-shirts. They and their friends murdered about 80 million.
edutcher - the point is all the evil dictators/butchers/murderers on T-shirts only trivializes their crimes in the minds of the youths. Already young people have no clue what evil is in the world. Well, they know Republicans are evil, because their teacher told them.
Springtime for Hitler was the only funny Hitler joke. Not sure how they got away with that either.
Was it Everyone Draw Hitler Day?
David - Springtime for Hitler came out in 1940 - before anyone knew about the Holocaust.
If there were ever a Project Runway for dictators, Mussolini would win hands down. Che had an interesting look, but it was too rumpled and youthful. Hitler had some cool black leather uniforms, but he was such a dinky little guy, it ruined the effect. Still, I've seen pictures of him in lederhosen, so you've got to admit he was willing to take chances. Mao was just awful, both in personal appearance and in uniform design. I know he didn't want a tailored look, but those uniforms looked like they were two sizes off. Stalin: again, some decent uniforms but on him everything looked shabby. In the end, only Mussolini was able to see the fashion positives in world domination.
Cambia Style means Change Style. It isn't the name of the clothing being advertised.
what's the difference between this ad and the animated cartoon images from the 40's ridiculing hitler as a lisping buffoon ? or mel brook's oafish-actor-as-hitler characterizations ? seems like some folks are just too anxious to get their panties in a twist.
Ah yes, the ubiquitous Hitler. He's as famous as the red plastic beer cup.
el polacko: "seems like some folks are just too anxious to get their panties in a twist."
True enough. Unfortunately, the panties-in-a-twist bunch, like the poor, will always be with us.
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