JCPenney Billboard Promotes Tea Kettle That Looks Like Hitler

[The Straight Story]

JCPenney Billboard Promotes Tea Kettle That Looks Like Hitler

A JCPenney billboard promoting an exclusive Michael Graves-designed tea kettle has been turning the heads of motorists driving along the 405 near Culver City.

Not so much for the teapot's "cool-touch handle" or its "space-saving design" but for its uncanny resemblance to Adolf Hitler.

The odd coincidence was first noticed by Reddit, where users were quick to wonder if this was truly just an odd coincidence.

"There's no way that wasn't done on purpose!" exclaimed Redditor mattaukamp. "Well, look at us - we're all looking at and sharing a picture of an advertisement," responded Redditor LevTolstoy. "If it was done on purpose to get people's attention, but keep the ability to deny doing it on purpose, it's brilliant."

http://gawker.com/jcpenney-billboard-promotes-tea-kettle-that-looks-like-510086791?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_facebook&utm_source=gawker_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

[datasuspect]

1. absurd

[sinkingfeeling]

5. +10 Exact word that came to mind.

[Progressive dog]

27. +10 Good description

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Silly

[Apophis]

3. I don't see it.

It's a bit of a stretch to say it resembles Hitler.

[rucky]

53. How can you *not see* it?

[Buzz Clik]

4. Yeah. The Hitler tea kettle. Should sell like ...

... whatever the opposite of hotcakes is. (tip of the hat to Zach Galifianakis)

But seriously. Who takes the time to find this crapola and post it on the internet?

Actually, I think it looks more like Mrs Butterworth

[Terra Alta]

6. Really stupid.

It's a fucking tea kettle, for crying out loud. I would not have noticed the resemblance had it not been pointed out to me. Some people have way too much time on their hands.

[graham4anything]

7. thanks for the chuckle

I do believe the creative advertising team pulled a fast one (and most likely are themselves the ones that leaked the similarity to the media.)

Sometimes one does have to just chuckle, like Disney animators throw something extra in all the time in DVDs.

(btw, I am Jewish in case someone reads this and thinks I am being rude or something)

[eShirl]

8. maybe it looks like Charlie Chaplin

[XanaDUer]

9. Stupid. Nt

[JustAnotherGen]

10. I don't see it at all

The person who saw it probably sees jesus in everything too . . .

[NCTraveler]

11. Obviously it is Cartman. nt

[Matariki]

31. That was exactly my thought!

[Blue_Tires]

12. I personally see the face of a dog...

(I've owned a couple of white dogs, so it jumped out at me)

[Warpy]

13. HAHAHAHA! It does, actually

The "hair" formed by the handle is what does it, otherwise it would look like Charlie Chaplin.

I love things like this that are unintentionally hilarious.

[reformist2]

19. I came here thinking this would be stupid, but I have to agree.... it does! LOL

[sarisataka]

14. WOW

I never realized how much Hitler looked like a teapot


I'm a little teapot,
Short and stout,
Here is my handle (one hand on hip),
Here is my spout (other arm out with elbow and wrist bent).
When I get all steamed up,
Hear me shout,
Tip me over and pour me out

[Are_grits_groceries]

18. My favorite varation on this song:

I'm a little teapot,
Short and stout,
Here is my handle (one hand on hip),
Here is my (looking in other direction)
"Dammit I'm a sugar bowl."

[Cirque du So-What]

15. I'm a little teapot

Eastern front
watch me pull my Blitzkrieg stunt
all the annexed nations will bear the brunt
'cause I'm a worthless little...dictator

[Orrex]

16. Well played!

[dmr]

17. That's a Michael Graves design.

He designed a tea kettle for Target a while back. It was so nice, kinda Art Deco. I wanted one for Christmas, but my son couldn't find one.

The Hitler reference is a shameful slap in Michael Graves' face as welll as Penney's.

My thought is the idiots on the Right are still burning over Penney's for having Ellen in their commercials.


I'm now going to renew my interest in that tea kettle.!

[olddots]

24. After reading your post on the design

I see that it is a good tea kettle and had no intention of looking like Adolf .Remember the case where people thought an ad with a glass of ice cubes looked like naked people ?

[Cirque du So-What]

20. Ergonomics über alles!

That bulge in the handle apparently provides a mechanical advantage for pouring, yet some see fit to wage a battle over it. Battle...bulge...get it? Sweet fancy Moses, but some people can create drama out of anything.

[marions ghost]

21. maybe this

"If it was done on purpose to get people's attention, but keep the ability to deny doing it on purpose, it's brilliant."

[ileus]

22. faux poutrage...they need a better hitler photo

or someone need to go back to the drawing board...

[HappyMe]

23. Oh ffs!

[Initech]

25. This will be sure to piss off the teabaggers. Nothing they love more than a good Hitler comparison!

[AndyA]

26. Silliest thing I've read in some time

What, no Jesus toast lately?

[Initech]

42. Some of the crazier teabaggers make way more Hitler references than they do for Jesus.

So it only seems natural that the Fürher would start popping up in random places.

[Jenoch]

28. No, that tea kettle does not look like or resemble Hitler.

The image on the billboard reminds people of Hitler, not the kettle itself.

I bet if someone bought the tea kettle and showed it to ten thousand people not one of them would say it reminds them of Hitler unless they saw this story or saw the billboard.

[El Fuego]

33. Exactly. You wouldn't normally look at the teapot from precisely that angle.

[d_b]

29. lol

[dembotoz]

30. poor JCPenny can't buy a break can they

I sorta like their stuff but don't shop there often

[El Fuego]

32. First pressure cooker bombs, now we're being menaced by Hitler teapots.

I'm afraid to go in the kitchen!

"Terminator IV: Rise of the Housewares"

[meow2u3]

38. DUzy!

[name not needed]

39. You forgot the Satanic toasters

[cherokeeprogressive]

34. I smell a boycott coming on. n/t

[tkmorris]

35. Weird. I thought it looked like the Virgin Mary

I swear this place is starting to read like the National Enquirer some days.

[demwing]

36. I don't understand the derision

the damned tea kettle has a Hitler style hair-do and moustache, and is giving a Sieg Heil salute. Of course it's cartoonishly silly, but how can you say that it isn't even there?

[Warren Stupidity]

40. no no no no, the tea kettle is on the right, that really is hitler on the left.

[demwing]

41. Is this a Hitler Egg?

Of course it is. Why then is a similarly designed teapot any different?

[Nye Bevan]

46. I always said the Mr Potato Head limited edition Adolf Hitler kit was a mistake (nt)

[demwing]

47. thats Fuhrer Potato Head, ty. /nt

[meow2u3]

37. Word on the street is that the teabaggers requested the Hitler Kettle

to take to their Teabagger, Neo-Nazi, and/or Klan rallies.

They had to have some relevant hate figure to go with the teabags hanging from their tricorn hats.

[KurtNYC]

43. I know what house that teapot belongs in...

this one:



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8414149/House-that-looks-like-Hitler-catches-eye-of-Twitter-users.html

But just wait until Hitler finds out there is a teapot that looks like him ...

[Nye Bevan]

44. Disgraceful. JC Penney should recall that kettle IMMEDIATELY

and modify it so that it resembles either FDR, Churchill, or Eisenhower.

If there is one thing I HATE it is small electrical appliances that resemble prominent Nazis. What next, a toaster that looks like Josef Goebbels?

[n2doc]

45. First Hitler...

Then Kitler....



And now Kettler! WHEN WILL THE MADNESS END???????

[SoCalDem]

48. Safer than the Target ad for a child's desk

more fun ads:

http://imgur.com/a/7shrP

[longship]

49. Dun-Dun-DUNNNNN!

R&K

DUzy worthy thread all around.

[Earth_First]

50. Clearly Redditor 'mattaukamp' is DU'er...

[Rex]

51. I've read a lot of stupid crap on the Internet in my lifetime

but THIS is one of the worst. It doesn't look like Hitler. SORRY. There is nothing even remotely subjective about the ad.

[Tom Ripley]

52. I thoughtthis thread was going to be about the work of ceramics artist Charles Krafft