Manuel Angel Alonso Coto

May be you have had the chance to have a look at the series of ads Dr. Martens, the famous boots company, has released in UK. Under the claim “Dr. Martens. Forever”, which appeared in the ads tagline, several passed-away rock stars sat on a cloud , wearing an angelic robe and Doc Martens boots. The first ad featured Kurt Cobain, leader of the nineties super-famous group Nirvana who –according to Forbes- is the dead celebrity who keeps earning more money from heaven.

Soon Joe Strummer (The Clash), Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols) and Joey Ramone (The Ramones) joined the list of dead rock stars of the new Dr Martens advertising campaign.

Speaking about the campaign, copywriter Andrew Petch from Saatchi & Saatchi said: "We wanted to communicate that Dr Martens boots are 'made to last' and we discovered that these idolised musicians wore them." He continued: "Showing them still wearing their Docs in heaven dramatised the boots' durability perfectly. And, as images, they feel very iconic."

Soon everyone around the world was talking about the campaign since the heirs have not been paid a single dollar (you can imagine Courtney Love shouting in the phone) and a lot of fans recalled that some of the stars –like Joey Ramone- had never worn Dr. Martens but Converse shoes in all his concerts.

As usual in this kind of controversies, Dr. Martens fired Saatchi & Saatchi and apologized while Kate Stanners from the agency considered the campaign “edgy but not offensive”. But in the meantime the spead of voice was huge and both advertiser and agency met their objectives… Do you think it is fair to use deceased people images for advertising without any control?

Best regards.

Manuel Angel Alonso Coto

Posted on 16 June 2007 in ADVERTISING

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Posted by: Angel Molinero at August 2, 2007 07:33 PM

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