The mix-up couldn’t be more unlikely, but in the latest controversy rocking the X, football, coffee, and Nazism have been combined. That’s because Irreverentes, a brand that specializes in premium coffee and whose members include footballers Marcos Llorente and Ibai Gómez, chose as its logo a design that closely resembles that of the Schutzstaffel (better known as the “SS”), the squadron in service of Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. The two designs are so similar that Irreverentes’ looks like an inverted version of the Schutzstaffel emblem.

Of course, it didn’t take long for the debate to flare up.

SS or Disrespectful logo? This question sounds good, but it is fundamentally the root of the debate that has rocked the Nazi SS. If Hitler’s Schutzstaffel used two lightning bolts as their insignia, the design chosen by the company is two parallel, zigzagging lines, almost identical to those of the SS, although in the opposite direction.

So why all the fuss? Irreverentes is a young company – or rather, very young. Voice of Galicia He announced his birth in October, when he announced his foundation. It is inexplicable that such a new company has created so much excitement in the networks, simply because it uses a logo similar to that of the SS. The key that gives it visibility is its links to two very well-known footballers in Spain: Marcos Llorente, from Atlético de Madrid; and Ibai Gómez, former footballer, coach and currently in charge of the Dominican Republic under-23 team.

I’m introducing the brand. Although the company has been around for a few months, controversy didn’t really begin until Llorente posted a video on his personal Instagram account, where he has 2.3 million followers, in which the logo was clearly visible. He’s not the only one bringing visibility to the brand.

Ibai Gómez also uploaded a few photos months ago of himself wearing a sweatshirt with the words Irreverentes written on it, but the Discord logo is only visible in the detailed images. These aren’t the only pieces that either of them have promoted for the brand. In March, the firm announced a giveaway on Instagram, with Llorente posing in an Atletico jersey and 2022 World Cup cleats, while Gómez posed in an Athletic Club jersey from the 19-20 season. Both have been featured on the brand’s Instagram profile since its launch in October of last year.

“Real coffee”. “Disrespectful Friends, here we are. As you already know, I am a health lover, a coffee lover and as you know, we have launched a new real coffee. So why do I say real? Because I do not like to talk about specialty coffees. In a video uploaded to the Irreverente account, Ibai explained that it is not coffee or any other type of coffee, but a real coffee and a product that they call coffee.

Join the teamOn its website, Irreverentes describes itself as a brand created by friends to “challenge the belief that coffee is inherently bitter and intense,” but does not specify who is behind it. elEconomista notes that the firm is a Galicia-based project and is backed by a group of partners who have previously worked together on other businesses, including two footballers. Voice of Galicia He also noted that they have decided to join forces with Arousan roaster to launch their own specialty coffee brand at the beginning of 2023.

The business newspaper assures that the company began working on the final stage of brand design in February of this year, but in September two strange rays reminiscent of the Nazi SS logo were already shown on social media. Already then there were users who publicly noted the similarity.

From debate to debate. This is not the first controversy Llorente has faced, having found himself ostracized in public just a few weeks ago, but for a different reason: bragging about sunbathing without protection or glasses in the early afternoon. “If you think skin cancer is caused by the sun, you are the king of the ignorant,” he replied to a user who criticized his attitude and the example he was setting online. Shortly after, he was forced to speak out again to publicly declare that he was “not a melanoma denier.”

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time the SS logo has been the subject of controversy in 2024. In April, the German Football Association lightly retouched the team’s Adidas-made kits after it went viral on social media that the design of the number 44 jersey was too similar to the Nazi logo.

Pictures | Disrespectful

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