And shame on John Mellencamp for an ad featuring Rosa Parks to sell a pickup!
I keep telling people that all is for sale, but they say, no, it is fine. Just an ad, they say. Just an ad that takes an historic protest and turns it into just another marketing tool. Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King--all good to sell one thing or another. Nothing is sacred, therefor it is all for sale.
We shouldn't be surprised. For all the reverence aimed at our flag, no one blinks when it is used to sell everything from mattresses to used cars. Capitalism triumphs all.
That is why I want to make an ad, but know that it would be taken wrong. It would be read as anti-Christian when it would instead critique capitalism. Then again, those two have merged so much that it might do both.
In this ad, Jesus on the cross pushes a pain reliever to make crucifixion more palatable. Japanese Internees sell sanitizing gel to make life in the camps more managable. Holocaust victims use the latest anti-depressant to make the death camps more tolerable.
Tasteless? Hell yes. Offensive? Hell yes. Just as I feel when a heartfelt song is sold to sell diapers or a civil rights leader turned into a shill for a two-ton pickup.
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