WASHINGTON, May 29 (RIA Novosti) – US retailer JC Penney is in hot water after motorists in California said they saw the likeness of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler in a billboard advertising a $40 Michael Graves designed tea kettle.
Drivers snapped pictures of the huge billboard on the interstate highway near Culver City and posted them on social media sites, drawing comments from others who thought they also saw something odd in the ad for the Michael Graves Bells and Whistles kettle, available exclusively at JC Penney stores, but were too embarrassed to admit it.
“I stare at this from my office building every day and now I can tell my co-workers that I'm not the only one who saw the Hitler in the bells and whistles sign!” Reddit user Tishacombs wrote.
“I'm so glad I wasn't the only one who thought that tea kettle resembled Hitler!” another Reddit user, JudgeDanny, piped in.
One Twitter user wrote that the billboard with the “Hitler” kettle was only five miles (8 kilometers) from a Holocaust memorial and said it was probably a good thing that, by Wednesday, the roadside ad had been taken down.
The online ad had been pulled, too, but that’s because, JC Penney said, the kettle had sold out.
Aw, @JCPenney took down the #Hitler #teapot billboard in LA. Probably a bad idea to have it five miles from the #Holocaust museum anyway
— Brooke Binkowski (@brooklynmarie) May 29, 2013
Those who did buy the tea kettle before the ad was taken down could make a profit by reselling it on eBay, where the asking price for the “Fuehrer” kettle was $199.
JC Penney's 'Hitler' tea kettle sells out but finds a new home on eBay http://t.co/yawfSfKMVb #technology
— The Gadgetologist (@1Gadgetologist) May 29, 2013
JC Penney reacted on social media with tweets to say any resemblance to Hitler was purely coincidental and unintentional.
“If we had designed the kettle to look like something, we would’ve gone w/this,” the Texas-based retail giant tweeted, posting a picture of a ceramic snowman teapot.
And while some Americans were hot under the collar about the kettle, others, like Lisa de Pasquale, didn’t let it steam them. De Pasquale thumbed her nose at the Hitler kettle, noting that the coffeemaker in her office looks like Star Wars villain Darth Vader.
Hitler teapot? Pssh. Our office coffeemaker looks like Darth Vader. pic.twitter.com/RMGYMHlPF2
— Lisa De Pasquale (@LisaDeP) May 29, 2013
And across the Atlantic, a tweet in German about the uncanny “Teekanne” (German for “teapot”) was more nuanced than those posted by Americans. “JC Penney is selling a teapot that looks like a historic person – Side Part and Moustache,” Twitter user Schliersee wrote.
