Amazon Nazi advertising

[WatcherZero]

To advertise Amazons new tv series 'The Man in The High Castle' they have decked out several subway trains with Nazi and Imperial Japanese iconography in an advertising campaign that will run through to mid December. To say that most passengers aren't very happy would be an understatement.

 

[Haydn1971]

Americans and flags - a recipe for over reactive patriotism !

 

[Kentish Paul]

Surely the Nazi emblem is the swastika which I do not see. Only the eagle and iron cross is on view.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Surely the Nazi emblem is the swastika which I do not see. Only the eagle and iron cross is on view.

The Nazi image appears to be a reversed NSDAP Parteiadler symbol (the eagle facing the other direction) and with the swastika removed and replaced by that of the Iron Cross.

 

[plastictaffy]

It may well be that these images have upset some, but they'll stick in your mind and remind you of the (very bloody good, fyi) Man In The High Castle. It doesn't matter what the advert is, someone, somewhere will always be upset.

 

[NSEFAN]

There's no such thing as bad publicity. Upsetting people gets them talking about your product.

 

[WelshBluebird]

All I have to say about this is that I am so happy that we don't have this kind of advertising over here where what looks like the vast majority of the interior of the carriage is advertising. Even external advertising liveries get me sometimes, so this feels just like a total assault on my senses! And that is just from seeing the picture let alone travelling in that environment.

 

[atillathehunn]

Sorry if I'm being thick, but are these running in service somewhere in these decals or were they done for an advert now done on television?

If so, which metro is this on? I don't recognise it particularly. And has the series been released? I enjoyed the book.

 

[Zoidberg]

Sorry if I'm being thick, but are these running in service somewhere in these decals or were they done for an advert now done on television?

If so, which metro is this on? I don't recognise it particularly. And has the series been released? I enjoyed the book.

It's the New York subway according to the article at

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...zon-prime-s-the-man-in-the-high-a6746266.html

Extract

New York subway trains were covered in Nazi insignia to promote Amazon Prime’s The Man in the High Castle and commuters aren’t impressed

Given that Amazon’s new series The Man in the High Castle imagines a New York City in an alternative timeline in which the Nazis won World War II, some kind of mass viral campaign was inevitable, but you might have thought the streaming service would have the sense to stop short of emblazoning the city with Nazi symbols.

It didn’t go as far as swastikas, but benches in 42nd Street subway cars were covered in the Iron Cross associated with Nazi Germany, along with the Rising Sun emblem of Imperial Japan.

The show’s advertising campaign also includes subway station posters, and runs from 9 November through to 14 December.

 

[ainsworth74]

And has the series been released? I enjoyed the book.

Yes it's all available online through Amazon now. I would warn that whilst it's very good it's taken the book as inspiration and run with it rather than a direct adaptation so if you're expecting to see the story in the book then you might be disappointed.

 

[WatcherZero]

The Nazi image appears to be a reversed NSDAP Parteiadler symbol (the eagle facing the other direction) and with the swastika removed and replaced by that of the Iron Cross.

Common thing in Germany, since the Swastika is illegal games/tv makers substitute an iron cross, Amazon likely done the same so it can be shown there.

 

[ainsworth74]

Common thing in Germany, since the Swastika is illegal games/tv makers substitute an iron cross, Amazon likely done the same so it can be shown there.

In the series Swastikas are in evidence all over the place from arms to a huge banner in Time Square New York.

 

[miami]

Based on the rhetoric from both sides of the aisle at the moment I'm surprised that anyone in america would complain.

NY subway cars aren't normally decked out in US flags (strangely - not very patriotic, be nice if homeless vets could sleep on benches decked out with the flag of the greatest country in the world), they just have a small flag by the door.

 

[jon0844]

I am not sure why anyone would be offended. The premise for the story is about if the Nazis won the war, and if you read the book or watch the series, you can see it isn't a positive outcome.

Thus it only serves to respect the people who fought for our freedoms.

Of course not everyone might know that, as well as some people being offended by anything.

 

[Groningen]

You know that some Americans have no taste. And; Americans (and mainland Britain) did not know what it feels like to be under foreign occupation in the 2nd World War!

 

[Spamcan81]

The Nazi image appears to be a reversed NSDAP Parteiadler symbol (the eagle facing the other direction) and with the swastika removed and replaced by that of the Iron Cross.

So not really a Nazi insignia at all then.

 

[jon0844]

You know that some Americans have no taste. And; Americans (and mainland Britain) did not know what it feels like to be under foreign occupation in the 2nd World War!

It may well be a clever way to get publicity, as there are conflicting reports on who complained and if Amazon was actually told to remove it by the transportation company. May well be that Amazon always intended to remove it early after getting the series discussed and promoted worldwide.

I mean, someone will tell me next that some Vietnamese guy fooled the world with a crazy name that got him blocked repeatedly by Facebook...

I watched it earlier, then the remaining 8 episodes in the 20th, and recommend it. It might appear slow, but clearly the plan is to make many series' and presumably take it WAY beyond where the book got.

 

[WatcherZero]

New York mayor criticised it and within a couple of hours Amazon announced they would remove the advertising.

 

[jon0844]

Seems a shame. The series seems a good way to show a younger generation just what happened in the war, and what we were fighting for.

 

[NathanPrior]

That picture must be fake, there won't be any spare seats on the Subway!

 

[me123]

It's the shuttle between 42nd Street and Grand Central. It can be horrendously busy in the rush hour, of course, but there are times off peak when it can be this quiet, particularly if the service frequency is irregular. Even in central NYC. It's a very frequent service with no intermediate stations.

This train always seems to have advertising liveries inside and out. This is an odd one, and given the subject matter, the conspiracy theorist in me wonders of Amazon knew exactly what reaction they'd get... They certainly got all the publicity they wanted and more. I suspect in reality that most New Yorkers reacted like the four in the picture above.

 

[miami]

I've been to NY a few times (never enough), never taken that train. It only goes about half a mile!

 

[me123]

Exactly. You'd only ride it to connect from the East Side lines to the West Side lines (or vice versa).