American toy manufacturer Mattel apologised, Friday, for its ‘Apples for Apples’ card game in which there is mention of “Nazi Poland”.
‘Apples to Apples’ is a party game where people have to guess a word from the description, with one of the ‘Red Apples’ cards concerning the 1993 Steven Spielberg film Schindler’s List reading “Powerful, real-life story of a Catholic businessman who eventually saved over a 1000 Jews in Nazi Poland”.
In a statement sent to the PAP news agency, the company said that the bogus card had been removed from the game in 2013, with Mattel board representative Stephanie Cota Teithelabaum writing that “We apologize for this gross oversight, particularly as the world observes Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day)”.
A number of tweets sent out by Mattel also try to straighten out matters.
The Polish Embassy in Washington also received an apology from Mattel CEO Chritopher Sinclair, announcing that it received the message “with satisfaction”.
“The Embassy also positively considers [Mattel’s] offer to exchange the old version of the game for a new one, where there is no trace of the term which goes against historical truth and assaults the good name of our country,” the Polish Embassy communiqué reads.
The US-based Polonia daily Nowy Dziennik first raised the alarm over the “Nazi Poland” blunder on Thursday evening after having been notified by a reader. It is thought that over 3 million copies of the game have been sold worldwide with erroneous card. (jb)
Source: PAP
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Ewa Malcher
