Amazon pulls ads using Nazi insignia from NYC subway

Moves comes after mounting criticism of PR campaign for new show offering alternate history of post-WW2 USA

These ads for an Amazon series have caused controversy. (Screenshot from Twitter via JTA)
These ads for an Amazon series have caused controversy. (Screenshot from Twitter via JTA)

Amazon on Tuesday asked the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority to remove a publicity stunt in which a subway was covered with the Nazi insignia as part of an ad promotion for a new television series.

The move came after criticism of the PR campaign for “The Man in the High Castle,” which saw the highly trafficked 42nd Street shuttle covered in Nazi and Imperial Japan insignia, The Verge reported.

The show imagines an alternate history in which the Axis powers win World War II after exploding a nuclear device on Washington, DC.

Some 260 poster ads included the Nazi Reichsadler eagle but did not contain any swastikas.

The ad campaign, which began on Monday, was to run until December 14.

Screen capture of 'The Man in the High Castle' television show produced by Amazon. (YouTube/Amazon Studios)
Screen capture of ‘The Man in the High Castle’ television show produced by Amazon. (YouTube/Amazon Studios)

MTA instituted a policy in April that bans political ads from its subways and buses. Under the resolution, MTA permits only the display of commercial advertising, public service announcements and government messages on its buses and subways.

The Amazon ads did not violate this policy, an MTA spokesman told The Gothamist, which first reported the ad campaign.

“The updated standards prohibit political advertisements. Unless you’re saying that you believe Amazon is advocating for a Nazi takeover of the United States, then it meets the standards. They’re advertising a show,” MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg told The Gothamist.

Evan Bernstein, the Anti-Defamation League’s New York regional director, called the ads insensitive, according to The Gothamist.

“Half the seats in my car had Nazi insignias inside an American flag, while the other half had the Japanese flag in a style like the World War II design,” commuter Ann Toback, executive director of The Workman’s Circle, a Jewish organization, told The Gothamist. “So I had a choice, and I chose to sit on the Nazi insignia because I really didn’t want to stare at it. I shouldn’t have to sit staring at a Nazi insignia on my way to work.”

Most Popular
read more: