Outlawing a symbol (or, Hot button issues)

So there was a bit of an uproar recently concerning the fashion company Esprit:

Fashion firm Esprit is under investigation in Germany after accusations that British-made buttons appearing in their new collection have swastika designs.

The firm has agreed to pulp over 200,000 autumn collection catalogues after complaints that the leather folding on certain cardigan buttons resembles the Nazi insignia...

"We have known about these traditional English buttons for years," said Kroger. "That's why nobody ever dreamt that they could be associated with such a thing.

The investigation was dropped before long. But the reason for the investigation in the first place is that depicting a swastika is illegal in Germany. That an actual symbol has been outlawed regardless of context results in strange cases like this, or this (from the first link):

Last month, a court in Stuttgart fined a 32-year-old man more than 7,000 euros (8,700 dollars) for selling anti-Nazi badges that showed a swastika with a line through it. In Germany, all depictions of the Nazi cross are forbidden.

It's a good thing we're not like that here in the US of A, because by now we'd have had to outlaw the letter W.

(Note: I could not find any photos of the buttons in question, but I believe they are the style pictured here.)