Hitler tea-kettle confirms "most recognizable face in the world"

Published by carolyn on Wed, 2013-05-29 12:59

According to a story in today's Time magazine, a tea kettle sold by J.C. Penney Co. has been recognized by the American shopping public  as resembling Adolf Hitler.

Over the past weekend, a user on Reddit social news site made the connection to Hitler, and by Tuesday afternoon the kettle was sold out on JC Penney's online sales site. As of this morning, the kettle had been completely removed from the site, plus a billboard advertisement for it near Culver City, California had been taken down.

What is of most interest to me is that the Hitler-hairline-shaped handle and perfectly-placed knob on the lid of the tea kettle make an image almost identical to the image I used for the April 20, 2013 "Hitler's Birthday" show on The White Network's "Saturday Afternoon with Carolyn" program. (image shown at right).

I wrote at that time, "When all is taken into consideration, it’s clear that the German Führer is, at the very least, the single best-known historical personality in the world today.  I would say that’s quite a success story."

I also wrote that this image was "An example of Hitler's amazing recognizability from only two simple shapes, demonstrating he has penetrated the consciousness of the entire world population."

It is irrefutably so. The JC Penney tea kettle episode proves it!
(Thanks to Steve Zuba for alerting me to this story.)