Updated, July 9, 2013 at 10:16 a.m. E.T.
A restaurant in Thailand has made KFC snap to Achtung!
In late May, Andrew Spooner, author of the “Footprint Thailand Handbook,” tweeted a photo of the restaurant:
Very bizarre Hitler Fried Chicken shop in Thailand. I kid you not. Complete with pic of Hitler in bow tie http://t.co/9OS1FgfUCx
— Andrew Spooner (@andrewspoooner) May 28, 2013
(MORE: A Führer in a Teapot)
Now Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) may sue the fried chicken restaurant, which is called “Hitler,” for replacing its iconic image of Colonel Sanders with Adolf Hitler, complete with apron and bow tie. The restaurant sells fried chicken as well as chips, burgers and kebabs, according to the Daily Mail, and is still open for business. Bangkok resident Alan Robertson told the Mail: “The place opened last month and nobody quite knows what to make of it. I went in for a bite last week and got some fried chicken, which was pretty good, and asked the guy behind the counter why it was called Hitler. He just shrugged his shoulders and said the owners had thought it was good image.”
KFC officials said they may take legal action against the restaurant if it doesn’t cease and desist immediately. “We find it extremely distasteful and are considering legal action since it is an infringement of our brand trademark and has nothing to do with us,” a spokesperson for Yum!, KFC’s parent company, told the Huffington Post.
Colonel Sanders is not the first face of a fast food restaurant to get the Hitler treatment. The restaurant appears to be a continuation of a trend that CNN dubbed “Hitler chic,” a trend in which pop culture icons are recreated to resemble the former Nazi leader. One of the more popular images designs, features McDonald’s mascot Ronald McDonald transformed into a cartoon Hitler complete with bouffant red hair.
In the U.S., JCPenney was under fire in May for a billboard advertisement of a teapot with a resemblance to Hitler. The Texas-based company eventually pulled the ad after backlash.
Update: According to the Bangkok Post, the Hitler chicken restaurant mentioned in this story has changed its name: “The ‘Hitler’ restaurant has long since undergone an image makeover as the owner wanted to avoid criticism of any Nazi association.” The Post continues: “The restaurant is in Ubon Ratchathani, not Bangkok … Today it is known as ‘H-ler’ and bears a different sign, a local correspondent in the northeastern province said.” This story has been updated to reflect the new information.