In what some local fashion magazines have dubbed the new “Nazi chic,” swastikas and German uniforms have been popping up all over Hong Kong lately, prompting Akasi to publish a multi-page spread of a sexy model seig-heiling her way to sexual freedom and romping in the grass with a plastic version of wartime general Heinz Guderian, Hitler’s army chief of staff.
And aside from a few scant mentions in independent online publications, nobody seems to care.
According to Thingfish, who first wrote about the Nazi spread for NetNewsAsia.com, many Hong Kongers admire the Nazi ethic.
“Their tanks were made by Mercedes and Porsche; their uniforms were original Hugo Boss,” said Thingfish. “Twenty years after the last British skinhead tired of the joke, it’s still not unusual to see a Hong Kong teen in an ‘Adolph Hitler European Tour t-shirt.’”
Which explains why visitors to Hong Kong can sing karaoke in a bar wallpapered with photos of Germans executing prisoners, buy a new dress in a fashion store with swastikas hanging from its ceiling or watch TV on a station that likens its commercial advertising to “the final solution.”
If that’s not enough, wake up to a morning coffee and a daily Hitler quote from a local coffee shop.
So while Akasi readers enjoy the lead article in Akasi’s October issue, which details the life and work of General Guderian, they can also peruse multiple photos of the model posed in front of a large swastika, holding a Nazi action figure in front of her breasts and popping up all over a Nazi tank.
Whether Akasi was aiming to offend with the October issue is unclear, as representatives at the Calvin Group, which publishes Akasi, wouldn’t comment to XBiz.
“It could be that the strip is simply too silly to horrify anyone,” said Thingfish. “Anyone who can pose a topless babe alongside a [Nazi replica] with a moustache must surely possess a sense of humor.”