The Bundeswehr launched an online store, a rubber duck with a machine gun caused excitement and controversy.
The German Ministry of Defense has opened the official online store of the Bundeswehr, where goods with the insignia of the armed forces are sold. The selection includes baseball caps, hoodies and various everyday items with inscriptions and symbols of the German army. According to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, the online store should make the armed forces "even more visible and closer to the people." "For us, it also provides another opportunity to promote our brand to a place where classic advertising does not reach," Der Spiegel quotes the head of the Ministry of Defense.
In the first hours of operation, the store received a high flow of visitors, due to which the website was not available from time to time. A camouflaged rubber duck holding a new G95 assault rifle has become extremely popular. As Der Spiegel points out, the souvenir ducks were sold shortly after the sales began.
The launch of the store and especially the sale of rubber ducks drew criticism from the left party. The leader of his faction in the Bundestag, Soren Pullman, said: "When we demanded that the Bundeswehr leave the schools, we certainly did not mean that it should transfer its advertising to the services of small children." Fellman said that selling ducks with guns is "an inappropriate way to reduce the dangerous work of soldiers". The Ministry of Defense responded that we are only talking about Marcha, that is, about fans and marketing products, soldiers in uniform will not carry ducks with them.