'Tasteless’: Amsterdam ‘Anne & Frank’ bakery to change name amid Twitter outcry
The owner of a newly opened bakery in Amsterdam called ‘Anne & Frank’ will change its name after facing accusations of being “tasteless” in his decision to name his pastry business after the Holocaust victim.
Owner Roberto Barsoum said he never wanted to offend anyone and will find a new name for his bakery, which is located near the house where the Jewish teenager wrote the world’s best-selling diary as she hid from the Nazis during WWII.
“Anne Frank is a hero for many people and for me too,” he told the Dutch NU news site. “Because my business is in the same neighborhood as the Anne Frank House, it seemed like a nice name to me.”
Barsoum was blasted on Twitter, with one user writing in Dutch: “Without any kind of shame or decency, a bakery around the corner from the Anne Frank House is trying to attract tourists. Even if the owners were named Anne and Frank, it would still be shocking.”
Elke vorm van schaamte en fatsoen voorbij. Een bakkerij om de hoek van het @annefrankhuis om toeristen te trekken. Zelfs al heten de eigenaars Anne en Frank dan is het nog stuitend. @AnneFrankCenterpic.twitter.com/zjLEFp7thZ
— Drukke Toestand (@DrukkeToestand) August 25, 2018
Another Twitter user hit out at the name being used as a “marketing ploy”.
Mocht ik op gruwelijke wijze om het leven gebracht worden, wil ik niet dat mijn naam gebruikt wordt als marketingtruc, jij wel?
— Jeroen van Dijk (@Jdvdijk) August 28, 2018
While another user appeared to imply the owner’s choice was as bad as a business being called ‘Pol’s Pot’ - a play on the name of Cambodia’s infamous dictator Pol Pot, who is believed to have killed up to three million people during his communist rule at the end of the 20th century.
Zo vind ik de naam Pol’s Potten ook echt niet kunnen. Zelfs niet als de eigenaar Pol heet.
— hanneke spijker (@SpijkerHanneke) August 26, 2018
In light of the backlash, Barsoum said: “It’s just a small business where we want to sell a few croissants a day. If I offend people with this name, I’d rather think of something else,” he told NU.
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