German footballer and Manchester United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger is considering legal action against a Hong Kong toy manufacturer that has made Nazi dolls that look just like him.
The dolls are produced by Dragon in Dream (DiD) a toy manufacturing company that specializes in producing “realistic, lifelike” action figurines, according to its website.
DiD’s website was quickly disabled following the revelations, but the original site featured a doll labeled as “WWII German Army Supply Duty — Bastian” that came complete with a uniform adorned with a swastika-bearing eagle.
The website appeared to be working later Friday.
Schweinsteiger’s management company advised lawyers in Germany this week to begin legal proceedings, according to German newspaper Bild, with one media lawyer calling the doll a “clear violation of Schweinsteiger’s personality rights.”
DiD’s phone went unanswered on Friday and it could not be contacted for comment by email, but the company previously told the newspaper that it was a “complete coincidence” that the figurine looked like the footballer.
“We thought all Germans look like that,” DiD said. “Bastian is also a very common name in Germany.”
Exploration of other products on the DiD website before it was taken offline revealed a series of other remarkable coincidences, with advertised figurines that bear a striking resemblance to Daniel Craig, Matt Damon, Robert De Niro and Johnny Depp, among others.
