Certain blunders show such a lack of foresight that they inspire disbelief more than condemnation. Not seeing the obvious (calling your son Ivor might have implications once he gets to school, Mr and Mrs Biggun) is perhaps an understandable human error. Not getting a second opinion on important decisions is less forgivable.
One wonders whether the folk promoting Amazon’s new show The Man in the High Castle in New York had thought to ask anybody outside the office (literally anybody - their dental receptionist or the guy who delivers their bagels would do) before putting these up in the city’s subway.
Amazon takes over New York Subway and decorates it with Nazi insignia https://t.co/iYUARsvfN2 pic.twitter.com/Oe23TxOouJ
— CNET (@CNET) November 25, 2015
Striking images, clearly. The show is set in an alternate history where the Axis powers won the war and conquered America, which is all very well. But as in this case it didn’t have enough context (such as clearer references to the show) it could understandably give commuters the impression their train was being sponsored by some sort of white supremacist gang.
That was the way New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo saw it anyway. He reportedly gave Amazon an ultimatum to take them down, which the company duly has.
Of course, as the saying goes there’s no such thing as bad publicity, and in this case it’s probably true. The tech giant is streaming original shows like The Man in The High Castle in an attempt to convince customers to sign up to its Amazon Prime service, which also includes music streaming and free delivery of products bought at the online store. Interest will probably have increased if anything as a result of the brouhaha.
Still, maybe in retrospect it would have been better to have plastered pictures of Jeremy Clarkson et al all over the seats. Surely no one could have found that offensive?
