"I love Wank"

Scandal over Garmisch’s masturbation gondola

Garmisch will probably have to replace one or two gondolas.(Bild: GEPA)

One week before the speed ladies travel to Garmisch-Partenkirchen for the World Cup double, the ski resort will probably have to replace one or two gondolas - or at least the advertising on them. Because: This could well be interpreted ambiguously ...

A few gondolas are decorated with the slogan "I love Wank". To explain: Wank is the 1780-metre-high local mountain of the Bavarian municipality, but translated into English, "wank" means "to wank", so English-speaking guests might recognize an invitation to masturbate in the lettering.

The sentences "Höhepunkt auf 1780 Meter" and "Wank mal wieder" are also likely to raise questions among some passengers ...

"Could distract focus from the sport"
In any case, the slogans have not gone down well with the FIS, which is now calling on the ski resort to remove the advertisements. These would have "a colloquial, sexually motivated connotation that could potentially provoke negative feedback. The message could evoke the wrong associations and take the focus away from the sport."

Klaus Schanda, Head of Sales and Marketing, takes a more relaxed view, telling the Münchner Merkur newspaper: "I would have attributed a little more humor to the association."