As reported by the NY Times India Ink Blog, two astute businessmen in Gujarat are cashing in on one of the most universally despised personalities ever.
In an interview with Der Spiegel, Rajesh Shah, co-owner, innocently confesses that the clothing store was named after his business partner’s grandfather, a man so notoriously autocratic that he earned the hilarious epithet of Hitler. (I would encourage you to read the entire interview – Shah is a comedic genius.
And so, with a 150,000 rupee (£1,700) investment in a sign, brochures, and business cards, the Gujarati duo may well have launched the most cost-effective marketing campaign (at least in terms of span) of recent times. Shock waves have been reverberating through the Internet all day (and here goes another echo), highlighting the effectiveness of what advertising scholars have long dubbed the “shock LOL factor”.
Still, I’m not really sure why everyone is so outraged. Dear old Adolf is probably rolling over in his grave at the moment, grunting furiously at the fact that his name is being used to catalyse the capitalist machine he loathed. After all, non-Aryans are indulging their materialistic whims at his expense, and no matter how shocking or appalling that may be, no individual has the power to keep Rajesh from promoting it.
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