YOU MAY HAVE heard about the Hitler Kettle?

It all started small. A Twitter user passed a billboard for US retailer JC Penney, and noticed a resemblance to a certain historical figure:

There were a lot of retweets of the kettle, a neat little number designed by Michael Graves that does indeed look a little like the leader of the Third Reich.

But it only got big when it hit Reddit, where a user thoughtfully put together this graphic really hammering home the similarity:

Imgur/Reddit

Here's a comparison we've done up for anyone in doubt:

Press Association/JCPenney.com

From Reddit, it went global. After coverage in Time magazine, the Guardian and the Atlantic, JC Penney was forced to respond.

They said, to nobody's surprise, that the kettle wasn't supposed to look like Hitler - and even replied to the original tweeter to that effect:
Grab via xojane.com
The original billboard, meanwhile, was taken down.

Then came the sales rush: the €40 kettle sold out on JC Penney's website and migrated to eBay. An initial listing at the price of $200 sold quickly.

But here's the good news: others have followed in that eBay user's footsteps, and the kettles are now all over the auction site - with at least seven available at the last count.

You'll be spending, though. The most expensive is priced at $185, with the cheapest (currently at $46) fending off 17 bidders with13 hours to go.

The alternative? Just return to the JC Penney site, where the listing - which had been taken down according to some reports - has now reappeared. Only thing is, it's "back ordered" due to demand - and will be back in stock around the end of June.

Can you wait that long?

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