May
15th , 2006
“I
believe that famous people have a debt to everyone. If celebrities
didn't want people pawing through their garbage and saying they're
gay, they shouldn't have tried to express themselves creatively…
In closing, you people must realize that the public owns you
for life! And when you're dead, you'll all be in commercials,
dancing with vacuum cleaners.
-Homer Simpson,
"When You Dish Upon a Star"
"Your
paltry, unconscionable commercials are the antithesis of everything
my lovely, gentle father represented."
-Ava McKenzie
(Fred Astaire's daughter) in a letter to the makers of Dirt
Devil vacuum cleaners.
I should
tell you straight off that I'm actually pretty torn over this
subject.
Intellectually, I find the notion of non-consensual endorsement
absurd and the posthumous bastardization of an artist's work
completely disrespectful. So I'm ashamed to admit that my distaste
fluctuates with how well the ad is executed.
The first
time I saw Gene Kelly pop and lock his way through this
VW ad, I knew I should hate it but... wow. It's inconceivable
to me that someone could channel-surf past that. Just preparing
this blog tonight, I watched it a dozen times. I can't hate
that ad anymore than David
Elsewhere can stand still. But how do you feel knowing the
same technology could be used to put your mom's face in a German
scheisse
porn? Oh, so now it's wrong. Happy belated Mother's
Day, by the way.
Anyway,
that's the question for this week's words
vs. pictures: Does having the rights give us the
right? And, yes, the “moron” button is back by popular
demand.
-Graham
