Thursday, March 3, 2022

Springtime For Hitler


A couple of weeks ago, I made one of my rare TV viewing suggestions. 

This came on the heels of my daughters who have been trying to give me a crash course in trash culture, particular as seen on one of the many expensive streaming services that threaten to land me in a dirty nursing home.

The show was/is called Nathan For You, in which Nathan, a graduate of a fine Canadian University, who got very good grades, takes his unique skill as a marketer and tries to "assist" flailing businesses. On one recent episode we watched on Hulu, Nathan had discovered that an outdoor clothingware company name Tiaga, had some kind of connection to Holocaust Denial.

That set Nathan off. 

And instead of helping them, he decided he would do all he could to hurt them.

And he did it by forming his own outdoor winterware company called Summit Ice, connoting images of rugged men and women braving the weather, challenging mountains and their inner fortitude. 

Only Nathan decided to add a little twist: instead of Holocaust denial he decided the marketing and advertising of Summit Ice should PROMOTE education of the Holocaust.

Not a bad idea considering our nation's leanings into fascism and the embarrassingly low number of today's students who, when it comes to knowledge of the Nazi genocide, have frankly been left out in the cold.

Additionally, Nathan sought out the services of an orthodox rabbi to consult on the ad campaign.

With Rabbi Blechnaven's blessing, they even designed an entire in-store point of sale display that defies description. Zoom in for the realistic Arbeit Macht Frei Gate.


You show me another tribe of people who have historically suffered so much and then willingly went out of their way to turn that into Gallows Humor. 
Mel Brooks should be kvelling.

As you might have guessed, the folks at Outdoor Adventure store, A16 -- it looks a lot like the store near Sepulveda and Pico -- nixed the proposal and didn't think revisiting the concentration camps was the best way to sell windbreakers, wooly socks and puffer jackets.

Undaunted, Nathan took his new brand to the interwebs. You can visit them at http://www.summiticeapparel.com

Better yet, you can do like my two sassy daughters did and buy some items as the PERFECT birthday gift.

I now own a T-shirt and a Tuque, sporting the Summit Ice logo. 

I never owned a Tuque before, but now I have one that only helps inform people about the Einsatzgruppen, Treblinka and the Nuremberg trial, but also puts me in with Hollywood's A listers, seen here sporting their treasured Summit Ice gear.




Soon my daughters, who are the kindest, smartest and funniest kids on earth (I may be biased) will be wearing their Summit Ice apparel when their birthdays come around.


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