About a month ago, the MTA was in the news regarding the removal of subway advertising supporting the #RaiseTheWage initiative.
Even though many New Yorkers seemed to support the idea of raising the minimum wage, including the mayor and governor, the MTA deemed it too political for their no-politics-allowed policy regarding subway ads.
But when it comes to covering shuttles with Nazi insignias and Imperialist Japanese imagery, that's just fine, apparently.
The visuals are advertisements for Amazon's new streaming show, The Man in the High Castle, which is loosely based on Philip K. Dick's 1962 novel, exploring the concept of the Axis powers winning World War II and occupying the USA.
While critics seem to like the show, the advertising isn't so widely adored. New Yorkers' reactions to the series of ads was largely negative.
Indeed, if Nazis won the war, it's not out of the realm of possibility for our subway seats to be emblazoned with their imagery. Understandably, the advertisers were perhaps trying to draw attention by inserting some of the show's imagination into real life-- which can be a good idea.
But not so much when it involves a bunch of Axis imagery.
It's certainly not the first time that the majority of New Yorkers have objected to subway advertisements, but it's hard to believe a scenario where nobody thought covering NYC public transportation with hateful imagery, even from a fictional context, might have been a bad idea.
Who can forget Pamela Geller's anti-Muslim ad campaign that was taken down?
The difference here is that Geller was serious, and The Man in the High Castle is an internet TV show repurposing historical imagery. But that imagery still carries back-breaking emotional weight for a giant percentage of not only New Yorkers, but Americans, Europeans, you know, tourists that visit.
So where should Outfront Media, the MTA's ad buying service, draw the line? Probably on the not- putting-Nazi-symbols-around-NYC side of the debate. When it comes to Nazis, it's always better to err on the side of caution, right?
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