You Just Can't Buy That Kind of Advertising
December 15, 2008 Alert Wreckporter Marjorie M. found this article detailing a Wreck interrupted. It's about a ShopRite in New Jersey refusing to write a three-year-old's name on his birthday cake. Why? Because the boy is named Adolf Hitler Campbell, and his parents insisted on his full name being on the cake. (His sister is named Aryan Nation. Need I say more?)
Tragic, yes, but little Adolf isn't the only one getting a bad name. Check out this photo caption:
In case you can't read that, it says "Young Adolf Hitler Campbell will be getting a cake from Wal-Mart this year."
Poor Wal-Mart.
Hey, you think they'll get the swastikas right?
Nah, me neither.
NOTE: I have no idea if Wal-Mart wrote the inscription or not. In fact, I actually feel bad for the store having its name associated with this...family. Not as bad as I feel for little Adolf and Aryan, of course, but still pretty bad. After all, Cake Wrecks has a LOT to thank the Wal-Mart bakery department for. ;)
UPDATE: I'm shutting down comments now; I think everyone has said their piece, and I'm tired of filtering out all the antisemitic comments and haters calling for these people's blood. As some of you have said, these folks are out for free publicity, so we shouldn't give them the satisfaction of endlessly debating it. I really only included it here as an interesting aside to the world of wrecked cakes. Now, moving on...
Reader Comments (150)
That's akin to child abuse, giving your children names like that. As a Jewish person, I of course, am completely offended and digusted and believe that any store should have the right to refuse to service these folks but then again, the poor kids, you're screwed either way.
Hey it could be worse, the kid's name could be Al Qaeda, for crying out loud.
Word verification: "flites." No lie.
that poor child!
I can't tell you how sad it makes me that those kind of people are raising children.
That's so wrong. Is this a case of "Wreckus Interruptus?"
Just WOW.
Wow is the only thought that comes t mind! Go Shop rite!
....ouch. I cannot feel worse for those little kids.
...also I work at a Shoprite in NJ, I wonder if it was us who made the refusal... :O
Wow, that is soo loving. I think I'll also put my agenda before the welfare of my children.
Aren't you supposed to want to protect your children from undue strife and difficulty? OK, so choose names that will cause consistent and most likely negative attention to their kids. Ah, and to think, the parents names are probably something like John and Jane.
Hey at least the kids have some options: like self defense classes or legally changing their names after 18 years of hell...
Yeah for those parents!
OMG. Birthday cakes are the least of these kid's problems. I think those names should be enough to indicate that Child & Protective Services needs do something to protect these poor children from their parents.
I'm speechless....
Hallie
Wow. Those poor kids. Can you imagine?
Oh. My. God. There are just so many things wrong with this...
Oh, how sad. Those poor kids. I can imagine the crazy racist mom, "Now I only wants WHITE sugar, white icing, ya hear me?"
Umm...any way those kids can be placed in foster care?
I'd like to take his birthday cake and smash it into his parent's faces.
I'd be rather inclined not to link my products to that family, personally. Of course it isn't the kids' fault that their parents are lunatics, but the parents are also fools if they think that their name choices will never cause any trouble for those kids or themselves.
There are three kids in that family: JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell and Adolf Hitler Campbell. The ShopRite in question denied the order because they have Jewish employees and employees who lost family members in WWII, and it was more important to the store to support their values and employees than to make a few bucks off the cake.
I think the parents were trying a little too hard to be offensive; just how often do you actually see a cake with a kid's first AND middle name on it? It's not fair that such a little cutie-pie has to be saddled with such trash for parents.
OMG that is mildly terrifying. Color me disturbed.
Poor kid ;3;
Thats not right that the store denied putting the name on the cake. Sure, they may not like it, but it doesn't make what they did right.
The name and the mullet call for a visit from CPS. Scary!!!
How common is it for customers to request a full name on a birthday cake? I've seen a few cakes with the recipient's first and middle names together, but I've never seen one with the first, middle and last name on the cake.
In Germany, the office of vital statistics (Standesamt) has to agree to register the name parents pick for a child; if they refuse to, the parents can appeal but German name law is pretty strict. There, a child's name has to reflect the sex of the child and must not endanger the well-being of the child. I remember marveling at that in German class in college.
WV: dialions. Sounds like the episode of South Park where Cartman got his eyes "dialated" (sic) by a malicious eye doctor that kept calling him 'piggy'.
I'm horrified.
Bev
OMG how awful! I would refuse too! I feel sorry for those kids because God knows how they'll turn out! And the boy is so cute too! I'm not Jewish myself and my husband is, but anyone would find that disturbing!
I'm going to name my next child Antisemitism Sucks Smith.
When I lived in a small town in California, I was surprised that a lot of the shops had signs by the register that said things like, "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone."
Now I understand why! Go ShopRite!!
Poor little kid. This seems like child abuse to me... naming them something so anti-social & hate-filled.
Wow, and I thought my mom hated my brother and me for our names. Norwegian names seem so boring now!
The store said:
"We believe the request ... to inscribe a birthday wish to Adolf Hitler is inappropriate," said Karen Meleta, a ShopRite spokeswoman.
Did the store even understand what they were refusing to do? Not that I'm defending the family, but it seems that the upper level management might not have understood that that it wasn't a novelty cake. Or if they did, their public statement is poorly phrased.
Either way I'm glad they didn't make the cake.
All I can say is...those poor kids!!
Well, Trevor, it may have been a temporary reprieve, rather than a full on Wreckus Interruptus, as it seems these misbeggoten excuses for humans are going to get their cake somewhere else.
Coitus interruptus (permanent) would have been the way to go, though, as this cake issue will be an annual event multiplied by the number of children the parents (I use the term loosely) produce. I also think the cake hullabaloo is the least of the offensive brouhahas that will be intentionally caused by these alleged parents.
Count me in as completely and utterly disgusted.
I think that the best part of this is the picture of the little fella. Is it just me or is his hair dyed blonde? And I could not get a very good look, but I am pretty sure that those eyes are brown!! Not exactly a specimin of the 'Aryan Race.'
Its unfortunate that the children are victims of the parents' prejudice, and more unfortunately, it is likely to be perpetuated through them.
I don't think I've ever seen a stronger advertisement for people having to pass intelligence tests before they have children. Those poor children. Betcha they have more too. Have mercy!
Adolf Hitler is not the child's actual name-- the white supremacist father merely wants the publicity. Shoprite offered to write the name on the cake if the father could prove the child's name with a birth certificate.
Bonus: Look for his other children's "names".
As a Jew and as a HUMAN I am so disturbed that people like this exist!
Like the bumper sticker I once saw said: "It's too bad stupid isn't painful"
Um...firstly, WHAT IDIOTS. Secondly I hope Aryan lives (not killed in some hate crime) to marry a black man. :D
Secondly, is it me or does Adolf need a haircut and aren't his eyes REALLY dark for someone whose parents are wanting an "aryan" race? Seriously?
I would say those 'people' are horrid, but how can you be PEOPLE an act like that?
And to think you need a license to buy a dog...
What awful parents. Poor kids!
But, I wonder if the store would have been happy to make the cake if the kid was named Che Guevara Campbell or Mao Zedong Campbell.
Some seem to be hypocrites when it comes to outrage of murderous tyrants.
I'm ashamed that there are still people out there who can't see past race or religion or any other bias. I can only hope that one day, these kids realize how messed up their parents are and change their names!
All sorts of crazies...
Is it just me or does that kid look like he's had his hair bleached?? Hmmm. Interesting.
my son was born on 9/11/04, the same day another boy was born at the same birthing center.
the center tried their hardest to get the 19-yr old mother to change the kid's name. she didn't, so there's a "revolution fighter felix" out there right now.
I pray that the children change their names when they are legally allowed to and hope that they do not follow in the beliefs of their parents.
I love how that photo is bleached out... note to the white supremacists out there, Hitler wasn't big on albinos.
Ugh. Sorry, most cults don't bother me, but white supremacists creep me out. Maybe because they'd see me as just so much breeding stock. Blech.
There aren't many things that can be said about this situation... I feel horrible for these children because they will be ridiculed when they get to school age. Not only that, after reading the article and looking at the pictures from the family's home, it looks like these children will also be raised in an environment full of the negative teachings of the Nazis... Others have said this and I will repeat it... It's sad...
i feel sick to my stomach. holland township is not too far from where i live. same county. totally horrifying and so sad for those children.
More than likely the idiot parents are, and the children will grow up to be much less a danger than your average ghetto american. Probably less a danger than four really irate bees. New Jersianites should have a greater fear of shark attacks than idiot nazi-wannabes.
That's a boy?
Jen, I hope you're ready to get bombarded by lunatics. Those bastards are relentless.
Any private business is well withing its rights to decide what it will or will not put on a customized product. If someone had asked for a whimsical image of figures in white robes and pointy hoods standing around a hangman's noose and a burning cross, should they have complied? Or a smiley face over the image of the burning World Trade Center for a 9/11 party? How about an image of a dismembered woman, or an aborted fetus?
What cretins. Too bad New Jersey doesn't have much in the way of children & youth services to get these kids out of this toxic environment.
Jenny Whiskey, you folks from New York and New Jersey certainly have shipped a lot of your trash to Pennsylvania. But don't worry, we're planning on sending it right back to your pristine shores.
And I thought my mom's friend was a little wonky for not thinking of her daughters initials when they names her. A.S.S... Anyway... These parents clearly are just craving the media. I agree, no one gets a full name put on the cake. These parents are ridiculous and I don't really care if Shop Rite wanted to make the cake or not. The parents should take all the blame on this one. Poor little birthday boy. I hope his parents didn't ruin his birthday with all the fuss they made.