Sports group below hearth after newly unveiled brand attracts Nazi comparisons
The Atlanta Falcons faced a torrent of ridicule after switching their X and Instagram profile picture to a striped throwback logo that fans said resembled a Nazi-era banner
A sports team was hammered online after unveiling a new social media logo(Image: Atlanta Falcons)
A sports team has been hammered online after unveiling a new social media logo that fans said looked uncomfortably like a Nazi-era military banner. The NFL franchise, the Atlanta Falcons, swapped its profile picture on X (formerly known as Twitter) and Instagram on Wednesday (October 21).
It posted the graphic with the caption: “New PFP”. It showed a rigid, geometric black falcon set against bold vertical stripes of red, white, black, and gold.
Within hours, the image went viral, racking up tens of millions of views as users flooded the comments with mockery, memes, and comparisons to World War II authoritarian imagery. “I give this a nein/10,” one fan posted on X.
An aerial view of San Francisco 49ers offense and Atlanta Falcons(Image: AP Photo/Stew Milne)
Another wrote: “I must say, I was not expecting to wake up this morning to see that the Atlanta Falcons are preparing to invade Poland.” A third commented: “I did Nazi this coming.”
Others piled in with nicknames like the “Bird Reich” and the “28–3rd Reich” – combining the grim historical reference with the Falcons’ infamous Super Bowl collapse in 2017 when they blew a 28-3 lead, the New York Post reported. The jokes kept coming, with users quipping the team was “leading the league in blitzkrieg”, while another post claimed the “Falcons were up 28-3 at Dunkirk.”
Despite the backlash, the striking design reportedly wasn’t intended to be political at all. The graphic was actually created as a throwback to Georgia’s football history and the Falcons’ inaugural 1966 season.
It looked uncomfortably like a Nazi-era(Image: ullstein bild via Getty Images)
The black bird is the team’s original 1966 logo, shaped like a capital “F”, while the vertical stripe pattern mirrors the exact look used on the Falcons’ 1966-1969 helmets, the Washington Post reported.
The gold element also has a historical reason: it originated with original owner Rankin Smith Sr, who chose it in an attempt to unite fans divided between the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech.
The image was posted to promote upcoming 1966 throwback uniforms for a game against the San Francisco 49ers – and it isn’t even the first time a similar profile picture change has sparked the same kind of online reaction.
While many critics focused on the awkward visual resemblance, some Falcons supporters had a more pressing concern: the team’s performances.
“Can we get a Profile pic of us Winning a Game,” one person commented on Instagram.
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