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Amazon’s ‘Jewish Baby Bibs’

Has e-commerce reached its apogee?

by
Adam Chandler
May 29, 2013
(Amazon)
(Amazon)

Yesterday, it was a teapot that supposedly resembles Hitler on a billboard in Los Angeles. Today, it’s Jewish Baby Bibs. And by Jewish, Amazon, which sells the bibs for a seller called Super Gifts, means bibs that say “Future Lawyer” or “Future Doctor” on them above piles of bills and coins.

Here’s how these adorable products are being described:

The perfect bib to dress up your darling’s outfit at synagogue or dinner with grandma. Made in the USA of vinyl impregnated cotton. Large 9 x 9″ coverage area with a pocket to catch small pieces running across the bottom. Front wipes clean. Machine wash cold, gentle cycle; line dry.

Much like the Hitler teapot, the reviews haven’t been stellar:

I was looking for something terribly offensive that would drive home the point the baby is Jewish. I was disappointed in this product that it “only” had coins at the bottom instead of tiny pieces of foreskin. Where are the included devil horns? Really, if we’re going to offend lets make sure we’re thorough! PS- @#$% you Amazon!

Also this:

As a Jew I was really excited to find an offensive product that would reinforce negative stereotypes about cheapness but unfortunately your bib is made of 2 types of fabric which violates the Torah teachings found in Leviticus 19:19 — that’s really a shame because I liked the way the bib made my nose look much smaller and distracted from my horns.

Other bibs in the Jewish Baby Bib line, which have yet to spark outrage are the “Future Mah Jongg Player” bib and the “I’m Not Crying I’m Davening” bib along with the “It’s My Bris And I”ll Cry If I Want to!”

Of course, this is hardly the first time Amazon has come under fire for not monitoring its wares. In March, the company had to deal with this unique controversy:

…Amazon’s reputation suffered a PR dent after its U.K. site offered T-shirts for sale with printed slogans that played off a famous British propaganda slogan, “Keep Calm and Carry On.” Alarmingly, some of the shirts—selling for $23-$26— included the phrases: “Keep Calm and Hit Her,” “Keep Calm and Rape a Lot” and “Keep Calm and Rape Them.”

Compared to that, this seems much less intense. But not so unserious that Amazon’s PR should avoid responding to media inquiries about it.

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.