Do These Sneakers Make Me Look Neo-Nazi?

CATEGORY: Fashion, Neo-Nazi, Culture Code

DIVISION: Modern Evil

COMMENT: If clothes make the man then what are you made of? Sending signals is why we dress the way we do, so Neo-Nazis have cottoned onto the original approach of looking very chic while telegraphing their ethos. Sure this is nothing new, but we welcome the appropriation of fashion brands for nefarious purposes. Ralph Lauren could easily become the darling drapery of suicide bombers, while Taliban everywhere would be better suited in Prada.













Thor Steinar and the Changing Look of the German Far Right

By Rachel Nolan in Berlin

Shaved heads, bomber jackets, black boots with white shoelaces -- it used to be easy to spot a neo-Nazi. But young far-right extremists are wearing more stylish and more coded clothes.

Lilian Engelmann never thought she would see neo-Nazis on her block. The young art curator works in a gallery in the trendy district of Mitte, a neighborhood in central Berlin. Her neighbors include an international cinema, designer hat store, Vietnamese restaurant and -- as of last February -- a store called Tönsberg, which sells clothing popular among right-wing extremists.

"By coming here, the neo-Nazis tried to come into the center of society," Engelmann told SPIEGEL ONLINE. Once local residents and shopowners learned that Tönsberg planned to sell the clothing brand Thor Steinar, they organized against the store. The group led by Engelmann and other shopowners called itself the "Mitte Initiative Against the Far Right," and mounted regular protests.

Neo-Nazis are a fringe group in Germany, where Holocaust denial, praise of Adolf Hitler and the display of Nazi symbols are all illegal. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the government's domestic intelligence agency, estimates there are about 40,000 active members of the German far right. The agency can shut down Kameradschaften, gangs or brotherhoods which tend to be violent, but many other groups in the neo-Nazi scene often fly under the legal radar -- like rock bands with suggestive lyrics or stylish clothing companies with coded symbols. As long as they don't display swastikas or explicitly support Hitler or his party, these groups are left alone.


Do These Sneakers Make Me Look Neo-Nazi?

Thor Steinar goods were banned in 2004 because of the logo's similarity to symbols worn by SS officers. But the company has rebranded, and its new look is legal. This presents a dilemma for Engelmann's group. Symbols and speech not obviously related to Nazism are protected by German law. So instead of trying to run the store out, her group decided to educate passersby about Tönsberg.

>> Full Article Here

There are Things We Won’t Do and Won’t Say

CATEGORY: Selling-Out, Morality, Popularity

DIVISION: Modern Evil

EDITORIAL: Deigning brands with human traits like morality is a must for people whose jobs depend on it. And to carry that thinking further, we know that every brand would sell their own grandmother if it meant dominating their respective industry. Market morality rules because greed is a universal, and still 'good' [thank you Mr.Gekko].



















Ads for Respected Brands Hit Racy Sites

Question: Is racy content simply becoming more acceptable for marketers given its popularity, or are negligent ad nets placing messages on sites many brands would rather avoid?

By Mike Shields

It’s questionable whether Procter & Gamble intended for preroll ads for its Tide, Cover Girl and Herbal Essences brands to run just prior to a recent video clip showing Playboy playmate Kendra Wilkinson flashing a breast at onlookers on TMZ.com. It also is highly doubtful that both HSBC and American Express deliberately ran banner ads within clicking distance of nude photos of High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens on the snarky celebrity-gossip blog What Would Tyler Durden Do? (WWTDD.com).

Yet, as celebrity slip-ups continue to serve as fodder for a slew of gossip sites and blogs, more mainstream brands are finding their way onto these sites, despite their often-racy content.

In recent weeks, ads for Days Inn and Samsung have popped up on the blog Egotastic!, known for its photos of underwear-shedding pop stars. Aside from ads for P&G brands, AOL’s considerably more PG-13 TMZ.com has sported banners from Wal-Mart and Verizon. Last Thursday, WWTDD, which revels in disparaging celebrities, carried promotional ads for NBC’s 30 Rock.

The big question is whether content of this variety is simply becoming more acceptable for marketers given its popularity, or whether negligent ad networks are placing messages on sites many brands would rather avoid. Both could be the case, said several media executives.

Digital buyers report that across several categories—particularly movie studios and products that target younger consumers—brands have come to terms with whatever reservations they might have once had about the content of such sites, as they simply cannot ignore the passionate following the sites have built.

“Overall, I see them as being very viable because the eyeballs have moved there and they are very powerful,” said David Goodrich, senior VP, West Coast digital director at Universal McCann. “These sites know how to border the gray area and not turn into full-fledged porn sites.”

Added Goodrich, “If I am Axe, yes. If I’m Johnson’s baby [products], I’d be hard-pressed. But if you are launching Superbad, you want to be in Perez.” He refers to Perez Hilton, the outrageous, celebrity-mocking/adoring blogger often credited with inventing the genre.

Henry Copeland, founder and CEO of BlogAds, which sells inventory on PerezHilton.com, said that because the site restricts profanity and nudity to certain sections, it has landed business from Chili’s, Samsung, even Microsoft. “You’re definitely seeing an evolution in attitudes,” he said. “Our whole society is becoming edgier.”

But some evidence suggests attitudes may be shifting. Nielsen Online reports that unique users for both PerezHilton.com and TMZ are down—by 22 and 11 percent, respectively, versus last year. Meanwhile, Yahoo!’s omg!, launched in June of last year, has roared past both those sites to take the lead in the entertainment category, attracting 13.3 million monthly unique users, nearly 4 million more than TMZ. The site credits its success to avoiding the nastier side of gossip.

“There are things we won’t do and won’t say,” said Yahoo! Entertainment general manager Sibyl Goldman, who heads omg!. “You won’t ever see starlets without their underpants. You won’t see us dig up legal documents. You can have fun and not be mean.” Goldman credits that approach with helping the site attract accounts including Nivea and Warner Bros.

While advertisers appear drawn to omg!’s softer touch, many predict brands will continue to open up to edgier celeb blogs, as long as they remain popular. “You go where pop culture is going,” said Jordan Bitterman, senior vp, media director at Digitas.

That said, Bitterman pointed to an emerging factor that could make marketers think twice about frivolous content: the economic crisis. “In this current economy,” he said, “you have to be completely mindful of what’s going on with people.”