Swiss Grocer Migros Apologizes for Hitler Coffee Creamer Labels
Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) — Migros, Switzerland’s second-biggest retailer, apologized for selling coffee creamers with labels carrying images of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, saying they hadn’t been checked properly.
Migros recalled about 300 boxes of coffee creamer, said Luzi Weber, a spokesman. They came from a supplier called Karo- Versand GmbH, which produced the images from a series of vintage cigar labels with the motifs.
“We apologize for this unforgivable mistake,” Weber said by phone from Zurich. “We can’t just blame Karo for the problem, as it’s also our responsibility which images we choose. Our mistake was that we used the labels and didn’t check them.”
Karo-Versand supplied Migros’s Elsa unit with 55 different designs, including two of the German and Italian dictators, for the mini creamer covers. Migros said it’s ending relations with the company.
Elsa used the images for the coffee creamers without notifying Karo-Versand, Peter Waelchli, managing director of the supply company, said by phone. He said he hadn’t received any complaints before for the series, which it has been using for two years.
To contact the reporter on this story: Corinne Gretler in Zurich at cgretler1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Celeste Perri at cperri@bloomberg.net Thomas Mulier, Dylan Griffiths
