Hitler ad angers Italians

2010-05-24 20:05

Rome – An advert for a clothing shop featuring a pink-clad Adolf Hitler has outraged citizens in Sicily and led World War 2 resistance fighters to ask that it be taken down.

The resistance fighters said in a statement posted on their website on Monday that the poster "offends those who fought to defeat Nazi-Fascism".

Citizens wrote to the Italian president to express their indignation, according to news reports.

The poster in the Palermo advert features Hitler in a pink uniform, his arms resting and his hands clasped. The swastika on his armband has been replaced by a red heart. "Don't Follow Your Leader," it reads.

The agency that created the campaign, Zerocento, told Corriere della Sera newspaper the advert was meant to be provocative, not to glorify Nazism.

- AP