Decades after the Nazi gas chambers were shut down for good, English sportswear manufacturer Umbro reignited bad memories when it named a training sneaker "Zyklon" in 1999. Umbro chose the name for its German meaning -- "cyclone"-- not Zyklon B, the insecticide used by the Nazis as a lethal poison.
In a letter to Umbro, Dr. Shimon Samuels of the Simon Wiesenthal Center said its "outrageous misuse of the Holocaust is an insult to its victims and survivors." Umbro later recalled the sneaker.
JC Penney CEO Ron Johnson addressed his naysayers at Fortune Brainstorm Tech. The transformation of the embattled retailer has only just begun.
