Not as good as sex

When it comes to marketing, sex sells. And while maybe not quite as good as sex, celebrities also sell. "How much is enough in spruikland? Apparently, nothing, ever - at least not until, like greedy kids playing Monopoly, their pockets are full, ours are empty and our homes are complete with consumables, every last product endorsed by a celebrity smile."

But not all celebrities are "doing it": http://www.smh.com.au/news/people/trust-me-im-a-star/2005/09/09/1125772685216.html

And, how many of your favourite songs from (usually) the past have been spoiled by some product "rip off"? Maybe it's getting out of hand, there. But beyond show-biz and sport celebrity product "placements" and the use of popular music, all of which compete for our public attention in some commercial form or other anyway, the marketing types who busy themselves getting us to part with our money show quite creative use of other imagery that we don't usually associate with commercialism. Those trendy Che T-shirts are an example of what I'm getting at here.







Well, the most recent example of this has boldly taken us where no marketer has gone before; right up the barrel of a gun. "The widow of the co-founder of the Black Panthers, the militant 1960s civil rights group, has been accused of exploiting the party's legacy by trademarking a slogan linked to the movement - Burn Baby Burn - to market a spicy sauce...." (http://smh.com.au/articles/2005/09/09/1125772695753.html) (And not that the Black Panthers have been the subject of plenty, plenty marketing efforts before now. This rendition of the famous Huey Newton seated in wicker chair photo is taken from a T-shirt design being sold at http://www.afriware.net/shopT-1.htm.)