WHAT WOULD HUNTER THOMPSON DO?
Feb. 29th, 2008 08:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogWould he endorse Converse posthumously? Well, he’s going to anyway, evidently.
That's him on the far left. God bless the PhotoShops.
As a HST fan since 1987 (the year I read Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas whilst in Colorado Springs), I have mixed feelings about this. I don’t object to him appearing in an ad per se, if for no other reason that it wouldn’t be the first time he’s done it. And anyway, if William S Burroughs could do a Nike ad, why can’t HST appear in a Comverse ad?
Well, he’s dead, for one thing. And this is where I have issues. There’s a fine line between using famous dead people for commercial purposes and using someone’s likeness without their consent. True, Converse is getting permission from his family, who seem convinced HST would have okayed the ad himself, not least because he actually used the product in question. And it’s their call, ultimately.
You could also argue that dead pop icons are a staple of modern capitalism. Just think of all those Marilyn Monroe/James Dean/Bob Marley/Che Guevara t-shirts that head shops in college towns sell every year. It’s tradition. Then again, they’re not being used to promote a product – they are the product.
And of course, none of this explains what Sid Vicious is doing in the same ad.
Selah.
FUN FACT: Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas is one of the few books I have read more than three times. It sums up the promise and failure of the 60s better than anything I’ve ever read. I think I'll buy me a new copy this weekend and read it again.
Generation of swine,
This is dF
That's him on the far left. God bless the PhotoShops.
As a HST fan since 1987 (the year I read Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas whilst in Colorado Springs), I have mixed feelings about this. I don’t object to him appearing in an ad per se, if for no other reason that it wouldn’t be the first time he’s done it. And anyway, if William S Burroughs could do a Nike ad, why can’t HST appear in a Comverse ad?
Well, he’s dead, for one thing. And this is where I have issues. There’s a fine line between using famous dead people for commercial purposes and using someone’s likeness without their consent. True, Converse is getting permission from his family, who seem convinced HST would have okayed the ad himself, not least because he actually used the product in question. And it’s their call, ultimately.
You could also argue that dead pop icons are a staple of modern capitalism. Just think of all those Marilyn Monroe/James Dean/Bob Marley/Che Guevara t-shirts that head shops in college towns sell every year. It’s tradition. Then again, they’re not being used to promote a product – they are the product.
And of course, none of this explains what Sid Vicious is doing in the same ad.
Selah.
FUN FACT: Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas is one of the few books I have read more than three times. It sums up the promise and failure of the 60s better than anything I’ve ever read. I think I'll buy me a new copy this weekend and read it again.
Generation of swine,
This is dF
