“The Man in the High Castle” is a new Amazon series and the ads, which included a Nazi symbol inside an American flag, were not at all well received by the riders of public transportation.
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If you’ve visited a NY City subway recently, though, you were probably doubly surprised to find Nazi imagery plastered all over seats, walls, and more.
The Amazon show is about an alternate world where Nazi Germany and Japan rule the United States after winning World War ll.
The advertisements, adorning some NY City subway trains in recent days, are meant to promote the new show “The Man in the High Castle”, which recently became available for viewing in November. The wrapper ad isn’t just a normal subway ad – it’s the entire subway vehicle immersed in the ad. “The ads do not violate our content-neutral ad standards and thus we have no grounds to reject them”, said the MTA in a statement.
NY Mayor Bill de Blasio labeled the ads “irresponsible and offensive”.
“The governor spoke directly to the MTA chairman yesterday morning and told him that Amazon had until the end of the day to do the right thing and voluntarily remove the offensive ads or he’d order the MTA to rip them out”, DeFalco said.
“We pulled it after rush hour when we could do it without dirupting service”, he said. In light of the complaints, Amazon reportedly intends to pull the wraps that feature the insignia, at least according to a report from Variety.
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Amazon has released a statement – that did not refer to the advertising specifically – but said the show was “high-quality, provocative programming that spurs conversation”. The show’s premise is to show what America would look like if it lost World War II. “Like Transparent and the movie Chi-Raq, stories that society cares about often touch on important, thought-provoking topics. To show people what could be really revolting symbols to them and bring back bad memories is not worth selling more viewership on their show”.
