World discovers clothing outlet in Ahmedabad named "HITLER", is shocked.

We already found one bad name of the day back in March, the eatery "Hitler's Cross" in India with the tagline "From Small Bites to Mega Joys". Now a HITLER fashion store is in the news, thanks to it's ill-considered name "Hitler". Now everyone and their auntie are reporting on this shop.

The Telegraph: "India’s Jewish community condemn 'Hitler’ clothes shop", Nationalpost: "Hitler Clothing store causes stir in India" RT : "Jews refuse to shop at Hitler store in India", Gawker: "if you name your clothing store Hitler don't act all surprised when it pisses people off"

Cliff notes, the Jewish community kindly asked the store owner to change the name which may be seen as very offensive by a lot of people. Store owner said : "We have spent Rs 40,000 on the banner, couple of other thousand on visiting cards and branding activity. We have run out of money now. We are willing to change the name if we are compensated for the board”

Tabletmag digs a little deeper in Understanding Hitler in India:

She emphasized the following ideas:
The story of the Jews of India has been almost entirely one of peaceful assimilation. As she points out (and experienced), Jewish populations in India have rarely, if ever, encountered violence at the hands of the state, dating back to British rule. Owing to this history, the 2008 attack on the Chabad House in Mumbai struck a particularly devastating tenor because it was the first attack of its kind on the Jewish population.
Shepard also signaled that the location in question–the state of Gujarat–was particularly relevant to the story because it has recently been a venue for anti-Muslim race riots, including a 2002 conflagration that killed nearly 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. An interesting aside: Gandhi was also from this region.
She suggests that a fascination with Hitler may persist because they are some parts of the population that have found parallels between Hitler’s view of racial purity and the desire of some to have a state that is entirely Hindu, a desire that was nurtured by the British before the partition of India and Pakistan and has relevance to the caste system.

TL;DR - western eyes may not see the full picture.

Regardless, "HITLER" named shoppes, eateries and Mein Kampf on bestseller lists is still a Bad Idea™.

Adland® is supported by your donations alone. You can help us out by buying us a Ko-Fi coffee.
Anonymous Adgrunt's picture
comment_node_story
Files must be less than 1 MB.
Allowed file types: jpg jpeg gif png wav avi mpeg mpg mov rm flv wmv 3gp mp4 m4v.
Dabitch's picture