10 Ads Featuring Adolf Hitler Pitching Consumer Goods and Services
Taproot India, an ad agency, won a Silver Lion at the Cannes festival in France this week for using an image of Adolf Hitler to advertise an audiobook service (click to enlarge images). Cannes is the industry's most prestigious award ceremony, and while a Silver Lion isn't its top award (that would be the Gold Lion) it remains shocking to those of us in the West that any client would allow its brand to be associated with the architect of the Holocaust.
Yet, as I've noted before on BNET, Hitler is a frequent pitchman for consumer goods and services in foreign countries. While Hitler is known the world over as one of history's villains, he doesn't quite carry the same weight of evil in Asia and Latin America as he does in Europe or the U.S. The result is that if lazy advertisers in the East want to quickly signify to consumers that something is "bad," Hitler is their go-to man.
Here's a gallery of foreign ads featuring Hitler. "Enjoy," if you can.
Click to start gallery of 10 ads featuring Hitler>>
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Ad agency: McCann Worldgroup, Mumbai
The "joke" here is that you might mistake Hitler for an angel if you're still watching one of those old vacuum tube TVs that suffer from reflections.
Next: Friends don't let fascist dictators drive drunk>>
Client: Anti-drunk driving campaign
Ad agency: Advertisers Without Borders, Argentina
A "classic," in the sense that Hitler frequently appears as the bad guy in public service advertising about everything from HIV to violence at football matches.
Next: Happy birthday, dear Adolf ...>>
Client: Kunst Historisches Museum
Ad agency: CMF studios, Wien
The ad promotes "The Artist Adolf Hitler," an exhibition of Hitler's paintings in Austria, which ran between April 20 and Oct. 26. April 20th was Hitler's birthday; Oct. 26 is Austria's independence day.
Next: Guess what's showing on Germany's version of the History Channel?>>
Client: ZDF History, Germany
Ad agency: Serviceplan, Munich
For decades after World War 2, Germany's official culture suppressed information about the Third Reich. It remains a crime to be a Nazi or to espouse Nazi views in that country. Only recently have Germans become more curious about their past. This history documentary used the emotional reactions of viewers who became so involved in the show they believed they had experienced it for themselves. (In fairness it should be noted that in the U.S. the History Channel's entire business model seems to revolve around Hitler documentaries.)
Next: Even liberals love Hitler>>
Client: The Guardian
Ad agency: Wieden + Kennedy London
The Guardian is the U.K.'s notoriously liberal broadsheet. So what is it doing publishing Nazi-porn? Turns out that even left-wing Brits remain fascinated by the Second World War -- it was a worldwide defeat of fascism, after all -- and the paper ran a special series on the conflict.
Next: Dinner with the Fuhrer>>
A Bela Sintra, Sao Paulo, Brasil
Ad agency: Giovanni + DraftFcb, São Paulo
A Bela Sintra is a restaurant. The fact that a fine dining establishment would allow itself to be compared to Hitler tells you how little power as a symbol Hitler carries in many countries that were not involved in WW2.
Next: A clean shave>>
Client: Speculative work for Gillette
Creative: Joshua Lawrence
This ad never appeared for Procter & Gamble's Gillette brand -- it was created on spec as an advertisement for a photographer from India hoping to get work.
Next: What if Hitler had an iPad?>>
Client: Netgate
Ad agency: Plutón, Montevideo, Uruguay
The translation is, "The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one. What if he had had Internet? 2166 websites created each day. May 17th. World Internet Day." The ad is so poorly conceived it accidentally suggests we'd all be better off without the web.
Next: Extra! Extra! Sieg heil about it!>>
Client: Metro newspapers
Ad agency: CLM BBDO France
In Europe, Hitler sometimes has a more subtle set of meanings attached to him (if that's possible). One of them is the idea that people who went along with Hitler were somehow unthinking.
Next: Even Nazis commute to work>>
Client: Tokyo subway system
Ad agency: Unknown
Japan's Tokyo subway system ran an elaborate campaign from 1976 to 1982 using figures from popular culture to improve the manners of subway riders.