15 Insanely Terrible Advertising Campaigns You Won't Believe Are Real
7. JC Penny Accidentally Uses Hitler Imagery
This billboard for JC Penny is just a picture of a teapot with the phrase "The bells and whistles you deserve." There couldn't possibly be anything offensive there, right? How could anyone take that the wrong way?
Well, apparently not a single person at JC Penny pointed out that the teapot bares a striking resemblance to Adolf Hitler. Seriously, it is almost too perfect: the handle and bell looks like an arm raised, the top of the pot stands in for the mustache, and the handle looks exactly like his hair. Up close you might not notice it, but quickly viewing it from a distance makes it incredibly clear, and considering it's a billboard that everyone's going to be quickly viewing from a distance, that's not good.
Obviously it wasn't remotely intentional, but JC Penny was still flooded with complaints and the ad quickly had to be taken down. Even so, the teapot quickly sold out online, so maybe this was secretely genius marketing all along.