# Designs with unintended interpretations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2017, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/designs-with-unintended-interpretations/784388 "2017-04-13T17:04:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JcWoman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jcwoman/32/2889_2.png) [@JcWoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JcWoman)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2017, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/designs-with-unintended-interpretations/784388/21 "2017-04-16T16:22:29Z")
> [@White SIFL](#): > > Stomping out the Nazis: [https://www.google.com/amp/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/14/us-shoe-company-recalls-boot-swastika-prints-apologises-obvious/amp/](https://www.google.com/amp/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/14/us-shoe-company-recalls-boot-swastika-prints-apologises-obvious/amp/) Lol, looks to me like the perfect uniform accessory for jack-booted thugs! In my area we have a couple of buildings with “interesting designs” that I’m not sure the architects intended the way people have been perceiving them. There’s the [“toilet bowl”](https://www.facebook.com/The-Toilet-Bowl-Building-270042918796/) building and also the [“shopping bag”](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjF6r-YsanTAhUi94MKHZGaDR8QjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmapio.net%2Fs%2F22428990%2F&psig=AFQjCNEoXcWBPUYJR6Eaxhvt7uk-mk-gXg&ust=1492446109699204) building. It seems that shopping bag thing, or at least the architect is very popular here because he’s built more than a handful in different heights and sizes all over. [For example.](http://abbeydesigncenter.abbeycarpet.com/-/media/Abbey/Images/MemberImages/0089/aboutus/Storefront.ashx?la=en) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2017, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/designs-with-unintended-interpretations/784388/22 "2017-04-16T18:20:03Z")
There’s this building in San Diego which is perfectly ordinary when seen from the ground, not so much [when seen from the air](https://www.gearthblog.com/images/images907/swastika.jpg). And [this campaign bus](https://i.cbc.ca/1.1490078.1379053355!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/li-wildrose-bus.jpg) featuring an extremely unfortunate placement of the candidate’s chest area over the bus’s pair of rear wheels, leading to the [inevitable cartoons](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QLtjDmzU_Fc/T25UUvUHdtI/AAAAAAAABak/xghFw6JnDXQ/s1600/bustedJSVB.jpg). Needless to say the bus was repainted almost immediately, with the candidate’s image well out of the way of any objects that might be subject to unwanted interpretation! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/designs-with-unintended-interpretations/784388/23 "2017-04-16T19:45:10Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > That is an unfortunate placement, but I would find preprinted encircled armpit stain more vexing. I wonder if someone in costumes did that to her on purpose. Or maybe it was a dare. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/designs-with-unintended-interpretations/784388/24 "2017-04-16T22:07:03Z")
The badly placed Starbucks design on their delivery vans. [https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrinknp\_400\_400/p/5/005/06b/3da/2d8eb00.jpg](https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrinknp_400_400/p/5/005/06b/3da/2d8eb00.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/designs-with-unintended-interpretations/784388/25 "2017-04-17T05:07:18Z")
There is the giant sperm building in Tokyo aka the Asahai Beer Building: [Asahi Beer Hall - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asahi_Beer_Hall) ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/designs-with-unintended-interpretations/784388/26 "2017-04-17T12:08:25Z")
Every time I see the Lexus logo, I think that they should probably be named Nose Motor Company. ---
**Author:** ![JcWoman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jcwoman/32/2889_2.png) [@JcWoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JcWoman)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/designs-with-unintended-interpretations/784388/27 "2017-04-17T14:19:26Z")
I always wonder if Chrysler meant the PT Cruiser to look like an eggplant. Or to have a “fat ass” appearance from behind. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/designs-with-unintended-interpretations/784388/28 "2017-04-18T14:11:12Z")
I always thought the Honda Element looked like a backpack. Evidently, so did one ad agency, with the headline “Why do you think it looks like a backpack?” and a ton of gear sitting beside it. ---
**Author:** ![Annoying\_Buzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Annoying\_Buzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annoying_Buzz)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2017, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/designs-with-unintended-interpretations/784388/29 "2017-04-19T01:51:03Z")
Part of my job now in advertising is to be a sort of ‘cultural editor’ to try and catch designs or messages that may look fine to most people in Japan but would be inappropriate elsewhere (since A: our clients are based overseas, and B: \*\*everything \*\*ends up on the internet) They realized they needed someone to do this after one ad got an angry review from the client, and none of them could figure out why. I had to explain that a menorah is NOT a Halloween decoration! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/designs-with-unintended-interpretations/784388.md?page=1)