HK store‘s Nazi theme sparks fury

[D-n-A]

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/08/10/hk.store.ap/index.html

HONG KONG, China (AP) -- German and Israeli diplomats have lashed out at a Hong Kong fashion company for using swastikas and other Nazi party symbols in a clothing line and to decorate its chain of stores.

The firm, which calls itself http://www.izzue.com., produced a range of T-shirts and pants with Nazi symbols printed on them. One T-shirt has a portrait of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler standing on a laurel.

Red banners with white swastikas on top of iron crosses hung Saturday from the ceilings of some of the firm‘s 14 stores. The banners also carried a sign that resembled the symbol of the Third Reich: an eagle above a swastika. One branch broadcast Nazi propaganda films on a wall with a projector.

"It‘s totally inappropriate because these symbols of the Nazi regime stand for cruelty and crimes against humanity," a vice consul of the German Consulate General in Hong Kong said on condition of anonymity. "These symbols brought a lot of pain not only over Europe, but over the whole world. ... It‘s definitely not the way to promote clothes."

The diplomat urged the public to boycott the shops.

The company‘s marketing manager, Deborah Cheng, said the Nazi-themed decorations and clothes were not intended to cause an outcry and may be withdrawn. She said the company had received a few complaints from customers.

"We‘re seriously considering removing the displays. But before we take them off, we have to find a replacement," she said.

Cheng added that the designer wanted the clothes to have a military theme and did not realize that the Nazi symbols would be considered offensive.

Staff at one of the stores tried to stop an Associated Press photographer from taking pictures of the shop and tied up the lower part of the banners to hide the Nazi symbols.

Israeli Consul-General Eli Avidar said the consulate has received dozens of complaints about the displays in the past two days, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported on its front-page Saturday.

"People were furious, hurt and shocked that such a thing could happen," Avidar was quoted as saying. "It is unbearable to think that anyone can design a marketing campaign that desecrates the deaths of millions of people."

Phone calls by the Asssociated Press to the Israeli Consulate General in Hong Kong went unanswered.

In April, soft drink giant Coca-Cola pulled a promotional robot figurine adorned with what appeared to be Nazi swastikas following criticism from a Jewish leader in Hong Kong.

And in July last year Hong Kong coffee chain Pacific Coffee was forced to apologise after its stores used a quote from Hitler for is chalkboard "Thought for the day" spot.


http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/08/10/hk.store.ap/vstory.swastika.banner.ap.jpg


I cant believe these people thought no one would be offended by this.. if the designer wanted his/her clothing line to be "militaristic" there‘s a lot better ways to do that then put swastikas an other symbols related to the Nazi‘s on the clothes, etc

 

[Theoat]

Those links look like they are from a doctored site. It is "edition.cnn.com", not the real CNN site. I got one of these similar type sites forwarded to me in an email a while ago. Come on "....Cheng added that the designer wanted the clothes to have a military theme and did not realize that the Nazi symbols would be considered offensive" ...Even someone with no knowledge of war at all would realize that.

 

[gate_guard]

Theoat,
It is the "real" (International) CNN site. I looked around the site and there is copyright trademarks everywhere for Time Warner which owns CNN. CNN would have a field day with anyone using their trademarks without permission.

 

[Theoat]

gate_guard,
I checked it out further too....my mistake..

 

[Ruthless4Life]

It‘s real. I‘ve read it on the newspaper.

How ignorant. I‘m not Jewish but I find it extremely offensive. I‘m was born in HK too. What a shame.

Ruthless

 

[Cycophant]

While I agree that what the clothing store did was pure stupidity, I have a small issue with something mentioned at the end of the article.

...And in July last year Hong Kong coffee chain Pacific Coffee was forced to apologise after its stores used a quote from Hitler for is chalkboard "Thought for the day" spot.

That‘s just sad. While I‘m unsure exactly what the quote was, I doubt they were foolish enough to put up something hate-filled or anti-semetic. Likely, it was one of the many thought-provoking quotes of the era. Millions of people died protecting our freedom - I don‘t think they‘d want to have their plight "shut out" from the history books and ignored.

Now, if the store was foolish enough to just put up one of his racist speeches, then obviously this doesn‘t apply. But sadly, I have seen similiar situations as described above, and it always saddened me.

 

[nbk]

At first this story is extremely hard to believe, but then I realized how this could happen.

I remember seeing someone wearing a bandana which had the WW2 Japanese flag on it (the red sun with the red lines coming out of it) on the subway. He was a white guy.

Now, I may just be naive, but I think this individual was somewhat ignorant to all the atrocities comitted by the Japanese during the second world war. He probably just saw it in a movie and thought it was cool. Or he just thought it would be an interesting statement, like these T shirts you can buy anywhere with "CCCP" or the hammer and sickle on them, although they have no idea about Soviet communism, Stalin, Lenin, etc.

If he were to wear that in say, Manchuria (or anywhere else in China) or Korea, Hong kong, Vietnam, or even Australia, or anywhere else the Japanese attacked, or who fought and died fighting the Japanese, people would think it was quite insensitive. However in a Toronto subway, no one even batted an eye. This bandana was probably bought in Canada, and quite possibly made in Canada.

This may be the same view people have in Asia about the Nazis. After all the swastika is far from taboo in Asia, as I am sure all of you knew. They are no doubt aware of the horrors that the Nazis engaged in, but perhaps they have not been taught to the extent that we westerners have.

I am not saying that there is anything wrong with the Hong kong school system, but they may have been more focused on their participation in WW2 and how evil the Japanese were (after all they occupied them). But how much did we in Canada learn about the Japanese in school? Internment camps, Pearl Harbour, Canadians fighting in Hong Kong, not much else.

I‘ve never been to school in Asia, but perhaps it could be something to consider...

 

[Jarnhamar]

Where an american flag in certian parts of germany or many other countries in the world. You‘ll hear some stories of attrocities there too.
Not picking on the US, it‘s just that door swings both ways.