By Steve Portigal at 2:01 pm, Monday August 21 2006
A new restaurant in Mumbai is called “Hitler’s Cross.”
A huge portrait of a stern-looking Fuhrer greets visitors at the door. The cross in the restaurant’s name refers to the swastika [originally a Hindu icon - SP] that symbolized the Nazi regime.“This place is not about wars or crimes, but where people come to relax and enjoy a meal,” said restaurant manager Fatima Kabani.
Now that is some serious PR spin! All you need is “our consumers tell us that…” and it’d be in the top 10 of all time.
It reads like a marketing class exercise (or dare), doesn’t it? Find some way to take the most negative thing imaginable and productize it or present it as a benefit or a brand.
Tags: brand, branding, hitler, imagery, india, mumbai, nazi, restaurant
This could very well be just an example of where things get lost in translation. They could have been going for a kind of Che or Mao kitsch. Che and Mao have already been done, the reasoning might go, how about Hitler? He’s got to be the next big thing dictator kitsch.
This is probably little more than a grave misunderstanding of two very western concepts (kitsch and irony) and of the human meaning of Hitler’s impact on western civilization.
Still it a good example of what its like to be on the other end of cultural insensitivity.
Comment by niblettes 08.21.06 @ 3:39 pmThe strange things always attract attention. I bet they’re making a killing now. It just sounds so coooool.
Comment by Telly 08.21.06 @ 11:40 pm[...] John comments (I’m sorry – I can’t call you Niblettes and keep a straight face) about the Hitler restaurant and refers to “dictator kitsch” citing Che and Mao. Very good point. [...]
Pingback by Portigal Consulting 08.23.06 @ 1:30 pmhmmm….did Telly realize how unfortunate his phrase was “making a killing”?
Comment by Mrs. Portigal 09.04.06 @ 6:21 am