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Che Guevara's children tired of commercialization of their father's image


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Two of Ernesto "Che" Guevara's children said Thursday they were tired of seeing their father's image used to sell everything from T-shirts to vodka, calling the growth of the revolutionary as a global super-brand "embarrassing."

Aleida Guevara, the eldest of Guevara's four children by his second wife, Cuban revolutionary Aleida March, said the commercialization of her father's image contributed to tension between rich and poor in some countries.

"Something that bothers me now is the appropriation of the figure of Che that has been used to make enemies from different classes. It's embarrassing," she wrote during an Internet forum sponsored by Cuba's government ahead of what would have been her father's 80th birthday on June 14.

Aleida Guevara was asked about the use of her father's image to sell British vodka and French soft drinks. She decried those campaigns as well one in Switzerland that uses his likeness to peddle cell phones.

"We don't want money, we demand respect," wrote Guevara, who is a trained physician like her father.
merasyad

24 responses // Che Guevara's children tired of commercialization of their father's image

  • If the young people who mainly buy these shirts and paraphenilia were to reside in cuba they would burn them
    Jtonio4823
    1 response to this
  • His kids would like it just fine if they got residual points from merchandise sales.

    This monkey is a millionaire due to good representation at the marketing meetings.
    kramericus
    1 response to this
  • It's about time someone takes a stand against this. All these pseudo-revolutionaries who wear this shirt don't even know what he did or who he was, it's embarrassing!

    I used to have a stencil that I would graffiti around my city (when I graffiti'd) that had his face, with a recycle symbol over it! I have a shirt that my friend Del made for me with her laser printer out of my stencil! I love it!
    Midnight_DevilX
  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/51128385@N00/274082050
    "Che" Guevara + Commercialization = Gross Irony
    Hawkmang
  • i did think things had gone too far a few years ago when i saw a che jesus poster at a train station, it remains one of my fave icons though..
    troyka
  • i think this shirt would be more appropriate for most of the kids who sport the che image
    diabolical44
    2 responses to this
  • About time they spoke up; I have to admit that I dislike when someone wears his face and doesn't even know who the man is, but just wants to fit in. The same people wearing his shirt are anti-communist. Go figure.
    cerealforeal
  • I think the market-based solution says that icons in a communist country are not recognized in the free market and as such are of public domain until such time as an individual or a corporate entity claims the trademark rights for said icon.

    *starts the 5 year trademark process*

    </sarcasm>
    primusluta
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPhWfSeMYHA&fmt=18
    I wonder what they would say about the song...
    "COWS WITH GUNS"
    CharlieG
  • http://www.inclusionist.org/images/bart-che.jpg
    Bart also feels insulted.....
    currenton
  • yeah , i watched that movie , what was it ? " the motorcycle diaries" ? yeah , i know all about Che - i am soooo cool .
    malathion
  • Man, Che is like any other person of that time. Immortalized because he was part of something that changed the world not just for those living in the countries impacted by the changes of that time (Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, basically Latin America and the Carribean) but everywhere with his ideology and philosophies.

    I think anytime you have someone fighting injustices against the poor, it's hard for them to realize that they themselves may not have the best solution to the problem. He was raised in an environment that was based in turmoil and witnessed things that made him feel that his "solution" was the only way change was possible.

    I think the ultimate flaw in Castro's and Guevara's ideology was that the people they were fighting to "save" wanted to grow up to be like the people they were being saved from. So when the dust settled and the people realized with change meant the loss of glamour and glitz in their cities, they went ballistic.

    I think that would be the ultimate flaw with change today as well. If we made any strides to change, people would realize all the conveniences we'd lose and they'd rather not do it (this applies to change on all fronts).

    I do agree that most don't know what his image truly stands for... in my opinion an ode to noncomformity. I feel if anything the image simply represents unrest.
    Mafioso
  • Yeah Che, I love that guy he robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. I watched that movie about him, what was it called..............Prince of Thieves, saw that back in 1991. What's this Mortorcycle Diaries people keep talking about? Didn't he ride a horse?
    observer2121
  • Well it just goes to show that Capitalism triumphs over socialism, again.
    mjsmith11
    3 responses to this
  • As a long-time admirer of Ernesto's charisma and writing, it has been nothing short of a constant source of frustration. However, his family can take comfort, as I have, in the simple fact that these corporations-thriving on the imperialist power structures that spawn them-are simply attempting to detract from the strength of his life and enduring legacy; their last vestige of pathetic power.
    And as the world grows increasingly impatient in the strangle-hold with which corporate America (among others) grips us, Guevara's popularity can only increase by its demise. "Hasta la victoria siempre," Commandante Che Guevara!
    anti_past83
  • i think that alot of the younger generations really havent been informed on how muchof an impact che truly had. he's almost consider equivelent to johnny rotten, or some other radical. Youth needs to be informed, i am also disgusted with the way che has been portrayed, i can remember this same thing happening with bob marley, who thought alchohol was evil, but of course you can find bob marley shot glasses. the mis representation of these warriors, who truly fought for freedom is nothing less than disturbing, however.. it shows that there has been a lapse in educating people, don't be jaded just share knowledge let these people know how outraged you are, and what che was really here for.
    power2thepeople
    1 response to this

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