Hitler or glitter? Online shop receives backlash over design of tote bag

Arizona-based online boutique Belle Chic recently advertised their glitter tote bag with a simple and playful message that reads “my favorite color is glitter.” But because of the font used, it was mistaken to read something completely different.

People began to point out the fun message on the glitter tote bag looks more like “my favorite color is Hitler.”

If you take a look at the original design, the lowercase “g” and “l” appear to look like a capital “H” when the two letters are put close together. And at a quick glance, the second “t” could be mistaken for an “l.”

Twitter user @hurlarious was quick to spot the flub and post it. The tweet has been retweeted over 44,000 times and has over 130,000 likes since it was posted just two days ago.

my fav colour is also hitler pic.twitter.com/0tMnOGpsOG
— some quack ?? (@hurlarious) July 23, 2017

Shortly after the original tweet, people began to chime in with their own jokes and puns about the tote bag’s questionable letter spacing.

How did the designers Nazi that
— ???morganne??? (@FUCKIECHINSTER) July 24, 2017

Nein out of ten agree.
— Economy Peasant (@EnigmaMister) July 24, 2017

This makes me Fuhrious
— FATIMA (@saltyfati) July 24, 2017

The online shop issued an apology on Twitter, saying they were “beyond embarrassed” about the design of the tote bag and posting a photo of a revision of the original design.

We are beyond embarrassed about the design of our GLITTER tote bag ? ✨. We replaced it with a new design. Hope you like this one better! pic.twitter.com/1ZXGAOcnGj

— BelleChic (@bellechicdeals) July 24, 2017

In the revised version, the word “glitter” is easier to recognize. At least one creative Twitter user decided to take advantage of the situation.

Not a fan of the new font? #Glitler thinks it’s Faaaabulouuuus! pic.twitter.com/SkCX65vxHw

— 49ERNATIVE (@DankerD) July 25, 2017

There was at least one person who could not figure out why everyone was up in arms over the bag because they saw “glitter” from the very start.

Personally I read the first as glitter. Had to look at it for a couple minutes to see what the fuss was about.

— What/Who I Want/Need (@WWIWNL) July 25, 2017

Whatever happened during the initial design process of the tote bag caused a lot of hoopla on Twitter. If one were to take a cynical route, you could think it was all part of the plan to get a simple black tote bag a lot of recognition.