Some 2,000 mini-creamer containers distributed in Switzerland mistakenly contained images of Hitler and Mussolini.
Most consumers wouldn’t dream of coming face-to-printed face with Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini while preparing their coffee. For people in Switzerland that scenario is all too possible after a company behind mini-creamers printed photos of the former dictators on a number of containers.
The New York Times reports that Migros, a Swiss retailer, apologized for what it calls an “unforgivable incident” and withdrew nearly 2,000 containers of creamer from more than 100 cafes in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.
A spokesperson for the company tells the Times that they were horrified by the failure of international controls to detect the images.
The issue came to the company’s attention after a customer drinking coffee at a train station saw the label and sent a photo to a local newspaper.
Mini-cream containers have somewhat of a cult collectible following in Switzerland, with makers continually finding new ways to promote the products.
The spokesperson tells the Times that the mistake occurred when an outside company asked one of Migros’ subsidiaries to create a series of 55 coffee cream containers based on vintage cigar labels.
The outside company, which was not named by Migros, supplied the subsidiary with the designs, two of which featured Hitler and Mussolini.
“I can’t tell you how these labels got past our controls,” the spokesman for the company says. “Usually the labels have pleasant images like trains, landscapes and dogs — nothing polemic that can pose a problem.”
This isn’t the first time products with potentially offensive photos from Nazi-era Germany have made headlines this year.
Just last week, Sears apologized for allowing a third-party ventured to sell a men’s “Thai silver Swastika ring” on its marketplace.
In August, Zara pulled a shipment of blue and white striped pajama tops after consumers complained the clothing looked too much like the outfits Nazis forced Jewish concentration camp prisoners to wear during the Holocaust.
Walmart, Amazon, and Sears pulled a poster featuring a concentration camp sign from their online marketplaces in early July. The photo includes a gate with a phrase that translates to “work makes you free.”
For Swiss, a Distasteful Jolt With Coffee: Hitler Creamer [The New York Times]
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
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