Mobile phone ads with Lenin spark anger in Poland

Associated Press ^ | Jan 8, 2013 9:12 AM EST | Vanessa Gera

[Olog-hai]

Vladimir Lenin is not considered funny in Poland.

A Polish mobile phone operator that used a cartoon image of the Russian communist revolutionary found itself barraged by angry feedback and responded this week by stopping its advertising campaign.

Older Poles remember the late Soviet leader for shaping a communist regime that killed millions and imposed mass terror in the Soviet Union. A communist regime was later imposed on Poles against their will by the Soviets after World War II.

The company, Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa S.A., counted on younger Poles having shaken such associations, and recently started using a drawing of Lenin in the style of Soviet propaganda in poster and TV ads, with the command “Keep Talking!” …

[Buckeye McFrog]

More of this “Communism is Hip” marketing B.S. aimed at the young that has infected us here. Glad to see it has backfired.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I guess the back up plan is to use Hitler. We sometimes forget what a laff-riot the Nazis were.

[Fiji Hill]

Under Lenin, Soviet Russia invaded Poland but was defeated at the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, so using phone ads aimed at Poles that feature him would be like running ads aimed at Americans that feature Tōjō Hideki.

[Lazamataz]

Instead of “Keep talking”, shouldn’t the slogan be “Silence will ensure you live one more day.”

[Oztrich Boy]

Vladimir Lenin is not considered funny in Poland.

Is this supposed to be a comment on the Poles strange sense of humour?

[left that other site]

I loathe “Commie Hip” stuff.

I am just waiting for some idiot in a Che T-Shirt to get beat up by a Cuban-American whose Grandparents perished in a Cuban Prison.

Net-Zero used the style of Soviet propaganda posters to sell its services. I emailed them back and blasted them for their advertising!

And I will not shop at Macy’s due to their logo of a big red star.

[Sherman Logan]

And I will not shop at Macy’s due to their logo of a big red star.

Macy's logo has been a star since 1858. 12 years before Lenin was born.

[Boogieman]

How about “Reporting your relatives and neighbors to the authorities is easy with our “Friends & Family Plan’!”

[left that other site]

Perhaps.

But they’ve had a long time to “upgrade”.

After all, the Tibetans used a swastika for CENTURIES before hitler was born, but the ancient good-luck symbol has been forever disgraced and sullied. I don’t see any department stores using IT as a logo.

[rmlew]

Under Lenin, Soviet Russia invaded Poland but was defeated at the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, so using phone ads aimed at Poles that feature him would be like running ads aimed at Americans that feature Tōjō Hideki.
No, it is far worse. Part of Poland was occupied by the Soviets from 1939-41 and all of Poland a from 1939-1945. 1/3 of Poland became part of Ukraine and there was considerable ethnic cleansing of Poles.

I suppose they that the company involved would find use of Molotov Bread Baskets or Cocktails less amusing.

[Fiji Hill]

No, it is far worse. Part of Poland was occupied by the Soviets from 1939-41 and all of Poland a from 1939-1945. 1/3 of Poland became part of Ukraine and there was considerable ethnic cleansing of Poles.

I was referring to what happened under Lenin.

Incidentally, a big chunk of the Polish territory annexed by the Soviet Union became part of what is now Belarus, and its inhabitants are today living under the dictator Alexander Lukashenko.