Amazon's promotion of its new show The Man In A High Castle by covering a New York City subway in Nazi and Imperial Japan insignia prompted criticism on social media Monday from those who the ad campaign was in poor taste.
On Monday, people took to Twitter to point out that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's 42nd Street subway is covered in Nazi and Imperial Japan insignia to promote Amazon's new show The Man In A High Castle.
The show is based on Philip K. Dick's novel of the same name and imagines a future in which the Axis Powers won World War II.
Trains that run from Grand Central to Times Square were covered with 260 posters that are made to look like Nazi Germany and Imperial Japanese-influenced American flags, according to the Gothamist.
The ads do not contain any swastikas. Instead, the posters include the Nazi Reichsadler eagle with what looks like a cross emblem in a wreath. Amazon's ad campaign runs until Dec. 14.
In April, the MTA announced new rules that prohibit political advertisements on the subway in response to a federal judge's ruling that the agency must run an ad from a pro-Israel group.
The policy allows the MTA to avoid being obligated to run ads that might be considered hate speech, but might be defended on First Amendment grounds.
The MTA said in April the new rules were meant to maintain “a safe and welcoming environment for all MTA employees and customers.”
MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg told the Gothamist that the Amazon campaign meets the revised standards.
“The updated standards prohibit political advertisements. Unless you’re saying that you believe Amazon is advocating for a Nazi takeover of the United States, then it meets the standards. They’re advertising a show,” Lisberg said.
While it's not clear how much was paid for the campaign, the MTA makes as much as $130 million annually in advertising revenue, New York's PIX 11 reported.
A spokesperson for the New York branch of the Anti-Defamation League, an NGO that monitors anti-Semitism, called the ads exploitative and insensitive.
“Our concern is that the Nazi imagery that is being used as part of this ad campaign comes without any context," Evan Bernstein said in a statement sent to BuzzFeed News. "On the train, seeing the American flag paired with a Nazi symbol is viscerally offensive, because there is no context as to what it means. The fact that the flag is spread across the seats only compounds the effect."
The MTA prohibited ads in October made by Thinx, which sells menstruation underwear, that were deemed to racy for the subway. The ads were eventually allowed after a major pushback from people on social media.
Many people online compared the two situations, asking how the period-related ads could be deemed unacceptable, while Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan symbolism is allowed.
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1NMjY72
No comments:
Post a Comment