Amazon Pulls Controversial Ad Campaign That Plastered Nazi Imagery All Over NYC Shuttle

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Perhaps you’ve seen one of the billboards for Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle, which features the Statue of Liberty doing the Nazi salute and wearing a Reichsadler sash?

Amazon

It’s a jarring ad, but one not completely inappropriate considering the show’s subject matter: an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s 1962 novel about a dystopian future where the Allied Powers lost World War II.


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But many are saying that Amazon crossed the line with the Man in the High Castle campaign that saw the 42nd St. MTA Shuttle in New York wrapped in Nazi and Imperial Japanese imagery.

The Anti-Defamation League, which combats anti-Semitism and defamation against Jewish people, calls the campaign “viscerally offensive.”

"On the television program, which explains this is the notion of an America controlled by Hitler, you get that context,” New York Regional Director Evan Bernstein told FOX11. “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.”


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“This ad campaign has a feel of exploiting things that are so sensitive to so many people," Bernstein added. "We’re not saying that people don’t have a right to express themselves. We’re just saying that it has a level of insensitivity.”

Now, the MTA has confirmed to ET that, "Amazon has just decided to pull the ads," though an Amazon spokeswoman said that Amazon did not ask the MTAS to pull the ad.

“Amazon Studios creates high-quality, provocative programming that spurs conversation. The Man in the High Castle, based on an acclaimed novel, explores the impact to our freedoms if we had lost World War II. Like Transparent and the movie Chi-Raq, stories that society cares about often touch on important, thought-provoking topics," the Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. "We will continue to bring this kind of storytelling to our customers."


The Man in the High Castle
is available to stream on Nov. 20. 

In other TV news, does this new Game of Thrones poster confirm that Jon Snow is actually alive?!