UNLIKE sex, despotism doesn’t usually sell. That doesn’t stop some marketers from trying. Entrepreneurs around the world are profiting from businesses and products named after blood-stained dictators.
Goods that invoke Hitler, for example, are popular in India, where it seems some businesses think the pull of his charisma outweighs the negative connotation of his crimes. A Mumbai restaurant was recently forced to rename its Hitler’s Cross pizza after outrage from Jewish groups. Similar pressure also led to the downfall of a popular Indian TV show called “Hitler Didi” about a tough-cookie aunt. A clothing store called Hitler, replete with swastika motif, also succumbed. Other Hitler brands registered in India include Hitler Hair Beauty Saloon, Hitler Jeans, Kid Nation Hitler and Hitler’s Den, a pool hall in Nagpur. Changing the name would hurt business, says Baljeet Singh Osah, its owner.
Iconoclastic images appeal to a niche clientèle, reckons Nina Beckhardt, head of The Naming Group, a New York branding consultancy. But brands must earn the “license to be boldly offensive”. Vini Nostalgici, an Italian drinks company, sells about 45,000 bottles of Adolf Hitler wine each year. Vintages named after Mussolini, Lenin and Stalin are also popular. The quality of the wine is irrelevant says Fabio Bogo, the company’s founder. Replace it with water and the bottles would still sell.
There were also no complaints after a beer called Mao Ze Drunk was introduced for a one-month promotion in Britain in January. Indeed, says Tessa Holden of Holden’s Brewery, sales were strong. And customers do not seem phased by a restaurant chain in Dublin called Mao—a particularly unfortunate association given that millions of Chinese starved to death during the great Chinese famine for which Mao Zedong was responsible.
Such stunts are trickier with boring products. Tintas Robbialac, a Portuguese paint-maker, axed its Vermelho Estaline (“Red Stalin”) appellation following online protest in 2010. “Lifestyle” products which purport to show solidarity with the downtrodden might do better, though. In Colombia, FARC terrorists, who demand land reform, sell packs of FARCAFÉ coffee alongside their more lucrative lines of illegal stimulants. And shortly after fighting between Israeli and Hamas forces last November, Stay Stylish, a cosmetics company in Gaza, announced brisk sales of its new M75 perfume, named after a locally made rocket fired at Israeli cities. Even in the confounding world of brand consultants, this is probably not what most mean when they talk about guerrilla marketing.
