How Kanye West tricked the Super Bowl into airing a commercial for his pro-Nazi merchandise?
The commercial itself seemed innocent enough. West appeared in what looked like a dentist’s chair, casually addressing the camera. “So what’s up, guys? I spent, like, all the money for the commercial on these new teeth. So once again, I had to shoot it on the iPhone. Erm… erm… go to yeezy.com.”
What seemed like another one of West’s unconventional marketing stunts quickly spiraled into a PR nightmare when users who followed the link to his website later found a single item for sale—a shirt bearing a swastika, labeled 'HH-01', which anti-hate groups have linked to the phrase “Heil Hitler.”
How Kanye Manipulated the System
West’s maneuver was strategic and deceptive. At the time the commercial aired, there was nothing offensive on his website—just an ordinary landing page. This allowed the ad to pass through standard network screening processes without raising alarms.
Three Fox-owned TV stations, including KTTV Los Angeles, aired the ad, likely assuming it was just another local business promotion. But once the commercial had been broadcast, West made his move—shortly after, his website was updated, making the swastika-emblazoned t-shirt the only item available for purchase.
A source familiar with the situation told Variety, “It was such a small ad, I don’t think anyone put two and two together. The copy was clean, the website was clean, and so they did their due diligence with that little part of it.”
The Aftermath: Yeezy.com Shut Down
As outrage mounted, Shopify—the e-commerce platform that hosted Yeezy’s
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