Hitler is Having a Moment

Text by Marni Grossman

From the silver screen to town hall meetings on health care reform, Der Fuhrer seems to be everywhere these days. Appropriating Hitler’s image is a sure way to get people talking, whether it’s about Quentin Tarantino or malaria. In fact, Hitler has appeared in a range of advertisements—from wine ads to PSAs. Check out the most egregious uses of his image below.

Italian winery, Alessandro Lunardelli, created a line of wines named for historical figures. Napoleon, Churchill, Che Guevara and… Adolf Hitler? Lunardelli proves that, for the true aficionado, only Fuhrerwein will do. To get the full flavor at this week’s Kiddush, try replacing "Mazel Tov" with a hearty "Sieg Heil!"

No2ID is a British one-platform party single-mindedly devoted to combating state ID cards. They thought that the most effective way to get their message across was to portray British Prime Minister Tony Blair with a Hitler-style barcode mustache and add a dire subtitle, "ID cards have worked well in Europe before." Well that’s not alarmist at all.

It’s good times all around at the Adolf Hitler Techno Bar & Cocktail Show in Korea. The Wagner remixes are off the hook and the Molotov cocktails are downright explosive.

We have it on good authority that Hitler smelled of freshly mown grass. Well, that and burning flesh. An Indian perfume company decided that the time was ripe to capitalize on the Fuhrer’s distinctive scent, creating Hitler Handkerchief Perfume. Though the Bangalore-based perfumier cornered the market with counted scores of skinheads, Lindbergh-lovers and even Leni Riefenstahl as fans, it has since gone out of business.

Ever had kinky fantasies about sleeping with Hitler? Apparently a lot of other people have, too. Belgrade’s Hitler hotel suite is the most popular of hotelier Dusan Zabunovic’s luxury rooms, beating out other luminaries like Fidel Castro and Joseph Stalin. At $200, it’s a lot cheaper than all the therapy you’ll need in order to work out those Nazi issues.

Africa Directo wants you to know that malaria is deadly. Deadly serious. Deadly as Hitler. Deadlier, actually. "Nothing and no one," the ad assures us, "takes as many lives as malaria." Which is undoubtedly true, but ultimately beside the point. This PSA isn’t funny or ironic or informative. Mostly it’s just tone-deaf.

If you look closely at this Luxor highlighter ad, you’ll notice that it’s composed of a page from a Hitler biography. The highlighted text is far more illuminating (har, har) than the advertisement itself. Luxor did similar ads using images of Charlie Chaplin and Che Guevara. Poor Che. Always playing second fiddle to the Third Reich.