Girl Group Pritz Under Fire For Stage Outfits Reminiscent Of Nazi Uniforms

[adenar.livejournal.com]

Girl group Pritz is coming under fire for wearing armbands that some say are noticeably similar to the ones Nazis wore during World War II.

Rookie girl group Pritz is in the middle of a controversy over an outfit choice. The Wall Street Journal reported on Twitter users noticing that Pritz's four members wore black outfits with red arm bands. The arm bands had a white circle in the middle, with a black x-shaped design, and look eerily like the Nazi swastika armbands.

Twitter users also said that it looked similar to armbands used by Hungary’s Arrow Cross Party, a party that promoted racial purity and ruled Hungary in 1944, during World War II. Its leaders were tried as war criminals by the Soviet Union following the end of World War II.

Pandagram, Pritz' entertainment agency, said that the "thought never occurred"; that it the armbands and black outfits could be reminiscent of Nazi uniforms.

According to Pandagram, the logo was inspired by traffic signs, with black numbers written on white circles surrounded by red. The X-shape has arrowheads at the end to symbolize Pritz' ambitions of expanding "without a limit in four directions," according to Pandagram's representative.

The girl group wore the armband outfits on November 2, but sang the same song at an event on October 25 without the armbands.

Pandagram is deciding whether to change the symbols, according to reports.

Korean commenters online wondered whether this was public relations stunt to get publicity for the rookie group. There was also worry that Western K-Pop fans would be offended by the armbands that recall World War II and the fascist Nazi government.

Pritz debuted in April 2014 with an anime-themed song, "Go Girls!". The group is modeled after Japanese idol groups and has four members, Hana, Yuna, Ari, and Shua. Pritz is making a comeback this November.

KpopStarz

I assume the stage outfits are meant to tie in with the MV concept, and the MV is supposed to come out today (delayed for re-editing?), so we'll see what happens then. Their website hasn't uploaded any photos from performances after the 2nd.

Comments

[thomaswilmoore.livejournal.com]

Maybe they're copying Nicki Minaj, lol

[adenar.livejournal.com]

i could only find about three articles on this and one of them drew that parallel, i'm surprised no one else did

[turdferguson.livejournal.com]

Korean commenters online wondered whether this was public relations stunt to get publicity for the rookie group. There was also worry that Western K-Pop fans would be offended by the armbands that recall World War II and the fascist Nazi government.

alright so they ARE paying attention. no excuses then. anyway i don't really believe that they "didn't know," ideas are never totally original they derive from another thing.

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

ikr?

[missingmisnomer.livejournal.com]

They claim they didn't know? Come on now. /rme

[hugtimes.livejournal.com]

i'm not buying that they didn't know, i hope this wasn't a publicity stunt or something.

[cagallisakura.livejournal.com]

this is dumb as fuck

[tempestdance.livejournal.com]

omg ot this segment was like the best and the worst thing i saw last week ugh i was like HAHAHAHAHAHA UGHHHHHH HAHAHAHAHA

[wordwank.livejournal.com]

this isnt the fucking first time. shinee's done it, speed's done it, the whole boy london brand is playing off a nazi symbol

is the wall street journal only taking note now bc nicki minaj issue "hyped" the issue of nazi imagery in pop culture and it can now get them more clicks???

[tokyocinema.livejournal.com]

SHINEE did it?!
when?!

[thevirginhyeri.livejournal.com]

fucking gross

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

This is so disgusting. And I'm sure they knew exactly what they were doing, come on now.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

NO

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Erasing's this group's name from my memory, moving on.

[gray-fairy.livejournal.com]

I don't think it was their idea because idols are controlled by their companies almost all the time but I don't buy they didn't know what that symbol means tbh. It's a pretty well known and universal symbol.

[jasmineakaiumi.livejournal.com]

How can you NOT notice tho lol like black and red put together in a uniform in that specific order is so iconic (idk if it this is the right word..) already?

[thevirginhyeri.livejournal.com]

infamous would be a better term. i feel like iconic has a more positive connotation

[p-jae.livejournal.com]

Wait what?! The Imperial Japanese Army were allied with the Nazis?? Why would only western kpop fans be offended by this, shouldn't Koreans be outraged as well? ..is the western side of WW2 not focused on as much in Korean education or..?

Any history buffs wanna catch me up? It's been a very long time since I studied the subject, I'm clearly missing something.

[fiercediva.livejournal.com]

Apparently not. It has come up before quite a bit. Two examples 14 years apart:

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_inexplicable_world_of_asian_hitler_chic

http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2053797,00.html

[miamaimi.livejournal.com]

I mean the "nazi-chic" has been going on for a while... I dont buy for one second they didnt know what they were doing tbh

now if they did for controversy or because they thought it was just another style is a different thing

[4minutesluts.livejournal.com]

yeah people have been ignoring it for years, this is just the most blatantly obvious case of it. Look at SNSD's outfits for Genie:



the hat & lapel pins are literally just the parteiadler with the swastika removed

[purpleglaceon]

The idea never occurred that it looked similar ?

Either they are dumb as fuck or think we are dumb as fuck or it's a stupid publicity stunt.

[iznanassi.livejournal.com]

I'm completely speechless

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

Who thought that this was a good idea?

[scheisse.livejournal.com]

why not put out a good song with a good video to get attention instead? just a thought.

[parkjsun.livejournal.com]

No budget tho :(

[rougepoison.livejournal.com]

Erasing four lines from the swastika doesn't make it okay, come on now...

[woohyun.livejournal.com]

rme who thought this was a good idea ugh so stupid

[honeebs.livejournal.com]

Stunt, obvious stunt makes their people look like jackasses

[princetabi.livejournal.com]

yikes

[lysblack.livejournal.com]

i just....

[yulins.livejournal.com]

omg this gif D:

[waves-of-light.livejournal.com]

Oh, for fucks sake

[koushiba.livejournal.com]

This year is making me a bitter Betty istg. I'm just done.