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Tea Kettle Or Adolf Hitler? JCPenney Billboard Stirs Controversy

CULVER CITY (CBSLA.com) — Was it a stroke of advertising genius or much ado about nothing?

A billboard in Culver City that promoted a designer tea kettle from JCPenney and has had bloggers buzzing about its uncanny resemblance to former German Nazi Chancellor Adolf Hitler has been taken down.

The ad, which was able to be seen off the 405 Freeway near Centinela Boulevard, was for the Bells and Whistles Stainless Steel Tea Kettle, part of a line of exclusive Michael Graves-designed kitchenware for the department store.

But some users of online content aggregator Reddit have speculated whether JCPenney - which saw a 16 percent year-over-year drop in sales earlier this month - intentionally made the stainless steel tea kettle resemble one of the most notorious men in history to stir up public interest.

"I stare at this from my office building every day and now I can tell my co-workers that I'm not the only one who saw the Hitler in the bells and whistles sign!" commented user Tishacombs.

"Oh man.. I was very confused when I saw this driving home yesterday," Redditor JazzDevil said.

The ad was taken down from the billboard on Tuesday.

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