Retail Randoms

NEIN DANKE, WINE FÜHRER

A winemaker in Italy has come in for widespread condemnation after bottles of wine featuring images of Adolf Hitler were discovered on sale in stores across the country. Bottles from the “Der Führer” range also carry slogans including “Seig heil,” “Heil Hitler,” “Mein Kampf,” and “Ein volk, ein reich, ein Führer”.

The sale of products featuring swastikas and other Nazi imagery is verboten across most of Europe, though not so much in fascism’s birthplace, Italy.

This isn’t the first time the wines have drawn flak, with the Simon Wiesenthal Centre calling for a boycott as far back as 2013. With the hate-filled bottles still on shelves six years later, the Jewish human rights organisation then went as far as condemning Italy as “the hate-mongering wine waiter of Europe”.

Since this latest storm erupted, Lunardelli has added a message to its website stating: “This is a commercial site only. We deny any kind of political propaganda.” Good for it.

It would also probably counter any accusations of extreme right-leaning tendencies with the argument that it also stocks wines dedicated to communist dictators. Indeed, it does: a whopping total of five, compared to over 70 that pay tribute to Hitler, Mussolini and Franco.

But if there’s any humour to be extracted from this sorry tale, it’s in the wine dedicated to Joseph Stalin, which is described as “an intense red”.

SWEET SORROW

The only thing worse than not getting what you want is getting it. So, beware if you think the position of Chief Candy Officer sounds like your dream job. If you enjoy consuming confectionery, what’s not to like about the post with Canadian-based Candy Funhouse?

It pays the equivalent of around £65,000 a year, for starters. Not too shabby, considering you can work from home and that no previous experience is necessary. “All you need is a passion for candy, pop culture, and a sweet tooth!” as the job ad on LinkedIn states.

However, the CCO role is “much more than just fun and games. It’s serious candy business!” Indeed. The job entails taste-testing more than 3,500 products on a monthly basis. According to The Week In Retail’s in-house boffins, that equates to eating at least 115 sweeties each and every day.

So yeah, once you’ve beaten off the other 6,500 and counting applicants, life will indeed be sweet. Apart from the false teeth and type 2 diabetes.