Ads featuring Nazi imagery pulled from NY City subway

A seat covered in Nazi-themed imagery on the NY City subway.

Workers removed the contentious subway ads that showed an altered American flag with Nazi-inspired imagery after complaints from riders and elected officials, transit officials said Wednesday.

Earlier this week, Manhattan commuters, as well as the Anti-Defamation League, called for the MTA to take down the ad signage, which many found offensive.

The series depicts an alternate reality in which Germany and Japan won WWII. “While these ads technically may be within MTA guidelines, they’re irresponsible and offensive to World War II and Holocaust survivors, their families, and countless other New Yorkers”.

Although Amazon had asked the MTA to remove the ads, Gov. Andrew Cuomo had reached out to the chairman of the authority to “ensure it happened”, Ortiz said. The wrapper ad isn’t just a normal subway ad – it’s the entire subway auto immersed in the ad. “The ads do not violate our content-neutral ad standards and thus we have no grounds to reject them”, said the MTA in a statement. “The shuttle train with the wrapped ad for the show was pulled from service after this evening’s rush hour, and the ad will be removed”.

The ads in the subway cars are now gone, but it’s unclear who is responsible for taking them down.

“I understand the shock value of advertising and they’re trying to drive people to see their show so the controversy actually helps them”, Cuomo said.

But an Amazon spokesperson denied that, saying it didn’t pull the ads.

Amazon released a statement about the programme that did not refer to the advertising specifically, but said the show was “high-quality, provocative programming that spurs conversation”.

“The Man in the High Castle” is an Amazon Studios production based on the Philip K. Dick series by the same name. “We will continue to bring this kind of storytelling to our customers”.