I
do not wish to make a social commentary about
the contributions to mankind by either Mercedes-Benz or Che Guevara,
but it is my feeling that for both it is more about self serving
profit rather than any kind of decency for human conditions.
That
said, at the CES convention in Las Vegas last week Mercedes unveiled
an advertisement for their company using an image of Guevara with a
Mercedes star on his beret. How supposedly sophisticated companies
can make such embarrassing tactical marketing blunders is
unimaginable and leads me to believe it was intentional “Guerrilla”
marketing. (Pun intended).
(It
reminds me of when I went to visit the Lake Powell visitor center in
Arizona and books by both Everett Ruess and Edward Abbey were
prominently on display. Everett Ruess did not live long enough to see
the Glen Canyon Dam, but Abbey hated it and would have blown it up
had he had the means.)
A
little research by Mercedes would have revealed a controversial
figure associated with hard-line communism rather than commercial
luxury automobiles. The easiest and most cliche comparison would be
using Adolf Hitler to advertise for anything but I would like to
propose a twist to this faux pas by stating that it would be
similarly poor form for the Iranian government to use Albert
Einstein's image to try and sell the value of their nuclear power
program.
