Ampelmännchen

Ampelmännchen (German: [ˈampl̩ˌmɛnçən] ⓘ; literally 'little traffic light man', diminutive of Ampelmann [ampl̩ˈman] ⓘ) is the symbol shown on pedestrian signals in Germany.

[2] After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Ampelmännchen acquired cult status and became a popular souvenir item in the tourism business.

This idea received strong support from many sides, but Peglau's plans were doomed by the high costs involved in replacing existing traffic light infrastructure.

[5] The Ampelmännchen was officially introduced on 13 October 1961 in Berlin, at which time the media attention and public interest focused on the new traffic lights, not the symbols.

Beginning in 1973, the Ampelmännchen traffic lights were produced at VEB Signaltechnik Wildenfels and privately owned artisan shops.

[7] Decades later, Daniel Meuren of the weekly German newsmagazine Der Spiegel described the Ampelmännchen as uniting "beauty with efficiency, charm with utility, [and] sociability with fulfilment of duties".

[5] The East German Ministry of the Interior had the idea to bring the two traffic light figures to life as speaking characters.

[9] Designer Karl Peglau explained the public reaction in 1997: It is presumably their special, almost indescribable aura of human snugness and warmth, when humans are comfortably touched by this traffic symbol figure and find a piece of honest historical identification, giving the Ampelmännchen the right to represent a positive aspect of a failed social order.

"[14] In Heidelberg, however, a government department asked the city to stop the installation of more East German Ampelmännchen, citing standards in road traffic regulations.

In the meantime, east German businessman Joachim Rossberg had also used the distinctive traffic symbol as a logo, and claimed to make €50,000 per year from merchandise.

The court ruled in 2006 that Rossberg's right to use the Ampelmännchen as a marketing brand had largely lapsed and had passed back into the public domain.

[15] In 2004, Joachim Rossberg invented the female counterpart to the Ampelmännchen, the Ampelfrau, which was installed on some traffic lights in Zwickau,[19] Dresden[20] and Fürstenwalde.

[24][25][26][27] On 11 May 2015, before the Life Ball and the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, the city changed some traffic lights to "Ampelpärchen"; these are designs with homo- and heterosexual couples, hugging or holding hands.

However, in December 2015, a city traffic minister of the party FPÖ dismounted the privately sponsored faceplates, deeming them unnecessary.