Norway sues German company over use of flag in clothes popular with neo-Nazis
Norway is fighting a legal battle to stop a German clothing brand popular with neo-Nazis from using the Norwegian flag to promote its clothes.
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry claims the Thor Steinar brand's association with the far right in Germany goes against the Scandinavian nation's values.
"The clothing is a unifying symbol for people whom the Norwegian Government really does not want to be associated with," said Morten Paulsen, Norway's Counsel General in Hamburg. "We don't want our flag to be associated with those kind of values that go against what our nation stands for. They're using a good country's reputation to build up their own brand."
Mediatex, which makes Thor Steinar clothes, relies heavily on Norse runes in its marketing and displays Norway's flag - a blue and white cross on a red background - on its signs and shop fronts in Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden and other German cities. Many neo-Nazis admire Scandinavian people for their perceived racial purity.
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry claims the Thor Steinar brand's association with the far right in Germany goes against the Scandinavian nation's values.
"The clothing is a unifying symbol for people whom the Norwegian Government really does not want to be associated with," said Morten Paulsen, Norway's Counsel General in Hamburg. "We don't want our flag to be associated with those kind of values that go against what our nation stands for. They're using a good country's reputation to build up their own brand."
Mediatex, which makes Thor Steinar clothes, relies heavily on Norse runes in its marketing and displays Norway's flag - a blue and white cross on a red background - on its signs and shop fronts in Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden and other German cities. Many neo-Nazis admire Scandinavian people for their perceived racial purity.