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)
I look to this site for humor and this story is just so sad for a number of reasons. But thank you for calling our attention to this issue -- we still have a long way to go fighting bigotry. And kudos to the Shop Rite for refusing to write that on a cake.
And they say they aren't racist... Pfft.
To those saying ShopRite was discriminating the Hitler family, they weren't. Discriminating would have been refusing to serve them at all; ShopRite offered them a cake with the room to write Lil Hitler's name on it themselves. They refused.
I absolutely back ShopRite on this one.
I can't believe those names! How could they do that to their children?
and the best part about this "story" is that the idiot parents are living off social security. Which means that your tax dollars ladies and gentlemen just paid for a cake that says, "happy birthday Adolf Hitler". Nice.
Hm, wonder what kind of litigation this is going to bring. I'm sure the dad is considering it just for the publicity, to be a 'martyr for the cause'. Wouldn't it be nice if Shop-Rite counter-sued because of the stunt? Or the employees who were offended or emotionally stricken to sue for mental and emotional anguish?
Oh the peeing contest that would be!
Not only can you not buy that kind of advertising, but you can't buy that kind of deviance either.
Let's offer those children safe haven when they decide to run away from the jerks who are raising them.
Ummm... who would do that to a kid just for the reason that he'll have to deal with other kids, teachers, and pretty much everyone looking at him negatively for the rest of his life, or at least until he's old enough to change it.
Also, I thought I read recently that there are some things that it's against the law to name your kid and one of them was Hitler. I wonder if that's his legal name.
In any case, what messed up people! Those people in Australia (?) recently that named their daughter that screwed up Talula Hula whatever were charged with abuse, weren't they? This ranks up there.
Yuck. Double yuck, in fact.
And then there were a few people in the comments section talking about how Adolf's rights had been violated. I was unaware that we have a right to a cake from a supermarket. How about that? Wrecks for everyone! ;P
First I would like to say that I work at Walmart and I do work in the bakery. I probably shouldnt admit it (haha), but I have no reason to lie! I was laid off and needed to find work soon and Walmart hired me. Anyway with that being said, we have always been told that we have the right to refuse any order we dont see fit. If we dont want the order tied to our store, we dont do it. Its as simple as that. We have turned cakes down and we've never gotten in trouble for it. So to me, its more about the individual store and not about Walmart all together.
Having grown up in an area originally populated by German and Scandinavian immigrants, Adolph was not an uncommon name to hear. Adolph is in fact the name os one of the sweetest, kindest old gents I have ever met. It's the pairing it with "Hitler" that makes it offensive and wrong.
Had they have pared it wait "John" or something, it would have just been odd and the kid could have had a fighting chance of not getting completely ostracized and beat up on the playground on a regular basis becuase he could have been known as "Johnny Campbell".
Ironically, the Transformers cartoon the kid's shirt is advertising features an Indian girl as one of the main characters, as opposed to the usual Caucasian male kid.
please don't move to Georgia, please don't move to Georgia, please don't move to Georgia, oh please, oh please, oh please.
This is why there should be parenting licenses. The kid's name is the least of his worries..and there are many, poor guy.
Stupid people (the parents of this child) will continue to do such stupid and mean and horrible things, when people like us (who name our kids John, Mary and Dakota and read fun blogs like Cake Wrecks) continue to give them free publicity and attention.
They are not worthy of a blog entry! Sorry.
OMG -- those kids should be taken away from those DNA donors - I can't bring myself to call them parents. They have three kids and the OLDEST is 3. Female DNA donor is only 25! How many more kids are they going to bring into this world to screw up before its all over with? Scary!
Jen,
I would love to see you pull this story from your blog completely. The story is offensive to most; if they want to read and make snarky comments about it, let them do it somewhere else.
Readers - yes, the boy has a terrible name, but he didn't choose it. Please, don't pick on him, his hair, his shirt or anything else. He's a child.
"didn't expect the names to cause problems"
:::headdesk:::
that's yucky
Poor babies. :(
It would be awful to be born into a family so full of hate.
The sickening thing about it is that we the taxpayer's are paying for those idiots since neither of them work. So disgusting!
WTF!!
TLC.. get this family a reality show. ASAP!
I agree about how sad this is for the kids, but I still can't help but wonder...if I lived near this family, would I encourage my children to be friends with their kids? Would you want your kids to go play at this house? (obviously not)...I'm sure I'd be happy to have them come to my home to play, but would I let the friendship go any further than that? I know it will be hard for them when they get older and have to deal with their peers, but I wonder how the adults/families around them are reacting, or how will they be treated in the future?
Also, can I saw how unfortunate it is that an ancient symbol still used throughout Asia today as a symbol of fortune and religious benediction has been forever tarnished in our society as the "swastika" used by the nazis. I've seen them on houses in Asian countries and initially I get a sick feeling when I see one, but I'm glad to be able to associate it with something more peaceful than a brutal regime. Maybe these kids will help people do the same thing? One can only hope.
Here in Germany we have laws for EVERYTHING, even for what you can name your kid. I used to shake my head about that, how the government interferes with a parenting decision like that but from this day on I will applaud that law!
No parent could name there kids something like that here in Germany and screw up their lifes along the way and thank all gods for that!
I feel so sorry for these kids, they have no chance to grow up to form their own opinions.
Naming a child after such a horrible human being is so disgusting. Everything he stood for is absolutely terrible and I hope these children grow up to be accepting, wonderful adults and change their names. I know it's going to be hard since their parents are raising them and we know what kind of people they are. Honestly. What if I named my child Osama Bin Laden? I know Osama is a name that causes some controversy but what about that whole name? Ugh. Just terrible.
No doubt these childrens names are in poor taste or worse.
But if you think that the parents are putting their opinions before the happiness of the child would it not be fair comment to say that the supermarket is doing the same?
Also to those - both here and on the original article's commentary - would you have judged the parents' claiming disabilities or inability to work the same way if they had conformed with your beliefs?
I doubt this will be a popular comment but I think it needs thinking about.
That is just horrible. In the society we live in today, to not only still believe hateful things like that, but to intentionally teach it to your children, and starting with their NAMES? Go Shop Rite.
Hopefully someone else teaches morals and decency to those poor kids...
Anyone else notice that they mislabeled the first pic of the kid as his sister in the article?
I found this quote from the father on UPI.com:
"They're just names, you know," Campbell said. "Yeah, they (Nazis) were bad people back then. But my kids are little. They're not going to grow up like that.""
Really?
Link to the news story...
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/today/index.ssf/2008/12/holland_township_family_angry.html
NVG-WmsFam said Unbelievable that a parent would name their children with such names. But... (1) freedom of speech (2) rite to individual political/religious beliefs (3) baloney. I'm trying to see their side but absolutely can't.
Actually, this is a great illustration of free speech in action. The right to free speech does not free the speaker from the consequences of his/her speech. It just means the government can't stop them from speaking. The parents have the right to give their kids whatever controversial names they want. On the other hand, the store (as a private, non-governmental entity) has the right to refuse to put it on a cake. The store even offered them a blank cake so they could write it on themselves, which the family refused. The family would have to be REALLY stupid to think they could give their children names like that and not run into difficulties because of it. This is nothing but a publicity stunt.
What bugs me is the father said the SS symbols don't mean anything, they're just symbols. Well, then, what does he think symbol means? Ignorant.
KVB: I agree his hair looks like that badly dyed brassy blond...poor kiddo.
Some names are meant for children some names are meant for pets. Not that I endorse naming your pets those names either, but at least your pet won't be scared for life!
Those poor kids. How sad to have such ignorant and sick parents.
Have you ever noticed that a lot of good parents have trouble conceiving, while people like this seem to be able to reproduce juuuuuust fine?
That's just horrible! Man, and I thought the name Judas was bad. Shame, shame on those parents.
I have heard one that just might be worse, however. Not more offensive, but possibly more disgusting.
Meconium Phoenix.
Not only is it gross, it also sounds terrible. If you want the full story, visit the blog on my list called "Tales From Labor and Delivery."
I wonder what the doctors and nurses thought when those parents asked for Adolf Hilter and Aryan Nation on the birth certificates?!
Hmm. I can't believe the number of people advocating to have the children taken away just because of their names! What is wrong with people? Yeah the parents are ignorant, rude, ill-natured and probably caused this whole mess on purpose just to push their unsavory agenda. But that doesn't give you the right to take their kids away. I know it is hard for some people to accept that they simply don't have the right to control everyone else around them, but that's just the way it is. Deal with it and grow up!
And you know, the quickest way to make a child follow right along in their parents' footsteps is to bombard them with how evil you think their parents are. Leave it alone, and they will eventually see the light on their own. And probably change their names.
The store has every right to deny any request they choose. They would probably deny pornographic messages as well. It's their store and they should be able to choose what kind of merchandise they sell. And if the Hitlers don't like it.. well they are free to shop somewhere else. Unlike if they actually were you know, Jewish in Germany 70 years ago.
And I feel so very sorry for those children... they just never had a chance did they?
They wouldn't put my middle name on my birthday cake.
It's kind of ironic to say something like, "Certain people shouldn't be allowed to have children" because that's something that the little boy's namesake would have said. So... I guess I just can't say anything.
You should read the whole article complete with pictures of the family. It's really awful. Why not just put "happy birthday Adolf" on the cake except to make a horrible statement? Raised by hate-monger parents...it's clear what these poor children will grow up to believe. Truly sad.
Wow, way to use your kids to promote your white supremacist agenda.
I swear you should need a license to have a baby.
Those kinds of people shouldn't breed...IMHO
~Amy B.
Also, I thought I read recently that there are some things that it's against the law to name your kid and one of them was Hitler. I wonder if that's his legal name.
I don't see how that could happen without violating the first amendment. And for those (though I saw this mostly on the comments for the article) who think Shop-Rite was violating the couples' free speech rights, I'd like to direct you to the first five words of the first amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Even teaching your kids to be raging bigots isn't and shouldn't be illegal. We have to defend the free speech rights of the most stupid in order to defend our own.
That said, I might have given them the stupid writing, simply because I knew they're only doing this to attract attention. I wouldn't have wanted to give them anything to work with. On the other hand, I wouldn't want every idiotic neo-Nazi and Aryan Nation member thinking my store was cool with their beliefs, so maybe I wouldn't have.
I'm really disappointed to see this being given publicity. Such ignorant people who practice the message of hate and rasism should not be given anything - NOT ONE WORD - to further their cause. As "they" say, "There's no such thing as bad publicity."
Lessee here... gays can't legally get married. Rascist neo-nazis can marry and then go on to have children named Adolph Hitler and Aryan Nation.
God Bless America!!!
Wow....that's one way to insure your children will get their butts kicked every. day.
Those poor children are going to spend their lives apologizing for their parents stupidity. I feel bad for the kids.
Sad to say these people can not only procreate but they can VOTE!
Good one, Cottagecheap. Or suppose little Adolf grows up to be gay?
With parents like that, why not name all their poor kids "No Chance Campbell" and be done with it?
Unfortunately this family lives in my county.
Ugh.
The Wal-Mart DID do the cake for them, being proponents of free speech and all (never mind all those CDs and books they refuse to sell, ahem)
For more about the kids/family you can go to:
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/warren-county/index.ssf?/base/news-0/122923112231930.xml&coll=3