Geneva – A leading Swiss supermarket chain is apologizing for what it calls an “unforgivable blunder”: distributing mini-containers of coffee cream bearing portraits of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
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Migros, which also sells electronics and household goods, says it is immediately withdrawing boxes containing hundreds of the coffee cream containers and is breaking all ties with Karo-Versand, the small Swiss company that designed the collectible series of 55 different motifs – including likenesses of the German and Italian fascist dictators.
In a statement Wednesday, Migros described the incident as an internal failure and vowed to “tighten our controls for these products drastically” to ensure no more such mistakes.
It says Migros subsidiary Elsa-Mifroma never should have delivered the boxes with the items to restaurants and cafes.
Now, I am not in sales or marketing so I have no professional experience in branding and packaging. That being said, what the &?$% is the matter with that company? What genius thought that putting Hitler on the package would increase sales? Does anyone want to buy Charles Manson perfume? Perhaps Pol Pot frozen broccoli? A bit of Stalin organic goat cheese?
Reply to 1. Nowadays, with European anti-Semitism at an all time high, they probably -would- move more product with Hitler on their packages
Wake up & SMELL THE COFFEE! These incidents are NOT accidental, or mistakes, or blunders, they are deliberate & subliminal anti-semitic/pro-fascist propaganda & they were caught. I wonder how many things slip through because they are more subtle. Don’t try to tell me posting a photo of Hitler or Mussolini or a swastika is an “accident”. We aren’t that stupid.
There are a lot of Europeans who collect those little coffee creamer things. Companies make endless new designs in very small batches (about 2,000 in this case). This increases their value as collector items. This series was based on the theme of “old cigar boxes.”
Some Chinese designer found some photos online of Old European Guys and thought they looked like what an old cigar box looked like and went with it. Nobody caught the mistake.
Of it could be a huge conspiracy, take your pick.