The 18ft high posters of the Nazi leader advertise a line of clothing for young people and adorn street corners and bus stops in Palermo, Sicily's biggest city.

The ads show the Fuhrer in a lurid pink uniform, with his swastika armband replaced with one bearing a bright red heart, above the slogan "Change Style - Don't Follow Your Leader".

Many local people say the advertising campaign is offensive and have called for the posters to be taken down.

A city councillor with the centre-Left Democratic Party, Rosario Filoramo, has protested to the mayor of Palermo.

"The use of an image of a person responsible for the worst chapters of the last century is offensive to our country's constitutional principles and to the sensitivities of citizens," he said.

A council official, Fabrizio Ferrandelli, said: "Having Hitler's face on a poster... cannot be passed off as an innocent advertising message. Seeing these posters in front of schools is an embarrassment." But the advertising agency which came up with the idea said critics of the campaign were over-reacting.

The Hitler poster was a tongue-in-cheek way of encouraging young people not to follow the crowd in their fashion choices.

"We have ridiculed Hitler in a way that invites young people to create their own style and not to be influenced by their peers," said the agency's Daniele Manno.

Impressionable locals will now have to brace themselves for a fresh affront - the company plans to bring out a new poster campaign in the next few weeks featuring Mao Tse Tung.

相關(guān)中文報(bào)道（轉(zhuǎn)自北京晨報(bào)）

近日，意大利西西里首府巴勒莫街頭隨處可見(jiàn)一款備受爭(zhēng)議的海報(bào)——臭名昭著的納粹頭子希特勒化身“粉紅男郎”，納粹軍服胳膊上的納粹符號(hào)被大大的粉色心形圖案代替。據(jù)悉，這款海報(bào)主要是為了鼓勵(lì)年輕人穿出自己的風(fēng)格。

“粉紅希特勒”海報(bào)高5.5米，遍布巴勒莫的大街小巷及公交車(chē)站。該海報(bào)亮相后，立即在當(dāng)?shù)匾馉?zhēng)議熱潮。很多人表示這樣的海報(bào)令人生厭，并呼吁立即將海報(bào)撕掉。

巴勒莫市中左翼民主黨議員羅薩里奧·費(fèi)羅拉莫已經(jīng)向市長(zhǎng)表示抗議。他說(shuō)：“使用上世紀(jì)最?lèi)贺灊M(mǎn)盈的人做形象代言人，這對(duì)我們的國(guó)家、我們的人民都是一種冒犯?！?/p>

雖然遭到了來(lái)自社會(huì)各界的強(qiáng)烈指責(zé)，但海報(bào)的廣告商卻不以為然，并聲稱(chēng)輿論對(duì)該海報(bào)的反應(yīng)過(guò)于強(qiáng)烈。廣告商負(fù)責(zé)人丹尼爾·馬諾說(shuō)："選擇希特勒只是想通過(guò)這樣的方式對(duì)他進(jìn)行嘲諷。"不過(guò)，迫于輿論壓力，廣告商決定在未來(lái)幾周內(nèi)推出新款海報(bào)。

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