Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan Symbols Plastered Over NYC MTA Subway Cars For Amazon Ad Campaign

When New York City subway riders sit down on 42nd Street Shuttle trains, they will have to choose between two evils: seats plastered with Nazi imagery or those covered in the symbols of Imperial Japan. The Axis Power insignia are ads promoting the new Amazon TV series "The Man in the High Castle," but the campaign has some riders offended and uncomfortable.

The campaign, which was launched Nov. 15, was developed by an advertising agency, Outfront Media, according to Gothamist. Seats are covered either with the Nazi Reichsadler eagle or the Japanese Empire's rising sun flag. While some riders were reportedly unfazed by the campaign, others were disturbed by the posters and shuttle wrap.

“Half the seats in my car had Nazi insignias inside an American flag, while the other half had the Japanese flag in a style like the World War II design,” rider Ann Toback told Gothamist. “So I had a choice, and I chose to sit on the Nazi insignia because I really didn’t want to stare at it.”

The online television series,"The Man in the High Castle," is based on the 1962 science fiction novel of the same title by Philip K. Dick. It depicts an alternative universe in which America lost World War II and was divided btween the Germans and the Japanese. The series' MTA campaign is slated to run through Dec. 14.

Vanity Fair magazine's Richard Lawson questioned the move to use the infamous symbols.

"We can certainly understand commuters’ discomfort with Nazi imagery, and symbols of the plenty aggressive Japanese Empire, filling a subway car," Lawson wrote. "Honestly, it’s a bit boggling that this was ever approved by Amazon, or the MTA. Perhaps the thinking was, 'as long as it’s not swastikas'? Whatever the case, the campaign, which is scheduled to run until the middle of next month, was certainly more than a little mishandled in the sensitivity department."

MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg defended the agency's decision to approve the campaign, saying the ads met the the agency's advertising standards.

“The updated standards prohibit political advertisements. Unless you’re saying that you believe Amazon is advocating for a Nazi takeover of the United States, then it meets the standards. They’re advertising a show,” Lisberg said.

Some took to social media Monday to question the decision to include iconography that could be offensive to some New Yorkers.

"Did it occur to you that wrapping *TRAINCARS* in the Nazi emblem might, I don't know, echo something awful?" one Twitter user wrote.

Another demanded the removal of the advertising campaign.

"Nazi symbols in NYC subways are unacceptable," a Twitter user wrote. "Remove them!"