A Norwegian advert featuring teddy bears resembling Muammar Gaddafi and Adolf Hitler that was banned in January 2016.
Norway has banned an advertising campaign that highlights the danger of dust gathering on toys because it features teddy bears resembling Adolf Hitler, the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and former North Korea dictator Kim Jong-Il.
The bears are displayed under the heading “Teddy bears can be dangerous.” But a Jewish organization reportedly feared the Hitler bear made the Nazi dictator potentially endearing.
The ad, produced by Norway’s Heart and Lung Association, was created as a response to a rise in asthma and allergy cases across the country, the Daily Mail reported Wednesday. The problem has increased fourfold since the 1970s, the association said.
The Norwegian Jewish community objected to the ad, the report said. Members of Det Mosaiske Trossamfund, Norway’s Jewish society, were reportedly concerned that the teddy of Hitler could diminish his crimes in the eyes of young people. One member said, “Hitler was a mass murderer and he doesn’t deserve this kind of attention,” according to the Mail.
Norway’s anti-asthma Hitler bearBear Kim Jong II
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel