Someone didn’t think that through.
Why? Assuming the photo is real, it is obviously a standard match template with two countries’ initial three letters. If anyone makes an association to black person, it is their own fault. If anyone even finds it offensive, they are simply stupid.
Yes, it is obviously a standard match template. However, I don’t have much knowledge of German TV companies and considering the social media post it’s from is in English, I assumed that the photo was probably off of an English-speaking station.
On English speaking TV, I can guarantee you they would have transposed Germany and Nigera’s places in order to avoid this. Is that right? Is that wrong? I don’t know, and I don’t really care. I just know that people are sensitive about that word and that media will go above and beyond to not say or spell bad words in general, or create a situation that might offend someone and create bad press for them. I assume one of the reasons Nigeria is abbreviated to NGA instead of the first three letters of the country name is to avoid this kind of situation.
I’m not here to say it’s stupid or not, but it’s bad business. That’s why I said it wasn’t thought through.