bad call by Leica's marketing department

[JoeFriday]

Leica brochure on eb*y

I just found that auction listing and was shocked.. I wonder who the brain surgeon at Leica was who thought using a communist assassin/thug would be a good marketing idea?

 

[ent2b]

sorry brett, but i approve. you don't get much more revolutionary than Che Gueverra (sp?). of course you could also have pics of Franklin, Jefferson, and Hamilton who were considered quite revolutionary and seditious.

 

[JoeFriday]

sorry brett, but i approve. you don't get much more revolutionary than Che Gueverra (sp?). of course you could also have pics of Franklin, Jefferson, and Hamilton who were considered quite revolutionary and seditious.

I wouldn't exactly call Che (the real person, versus the myth...note that I didn't say 'legend')

I have a few cuban friends who have explained to me who Che really was.. this might help

the REAL Che Guevara

 

[Bertram2]

I have a few cuban friends who have explained to me who Che really was.. this might help
[/URL]

A really brilliant idea ! Exile cubans are the most reliable source for that issue, as we all know.
And if I want to know who Allende really was I have to ask Henry Kissinger I suppose.

 

[JoeFriday]

feel free to check other sources.. you'll find the same information all over the web.. Che Guevara himself admitted to killing over a thousand political dissidents at the bidding of Castro.. whether the information I show you comes from an "exiled" cuban (as if there is such a thing.. that's like an exiled Auschwitz resident) or from other sources, it doesn't change what Guevara was

however, I don't understand the reasoning as to why a cuban who met the man and lived in his country wouldn't know as much about him as anyone else

anyway, sorry to get off on a tangent like that.. I was just shocked that anyone older than a college senior would think of him as a positive role model

 

[Krasnaya_Zvezda]

No matter what you think of the subject, it's a famous, great, and historic photo, taken with a Leica.
And of course, it's all a matter of personal perspective. I'd be less likely to buy a camera that had W's image on their brochure than Che's.

 

[unsharp]

After reading your link, Joefriday, I must agree this is an awful ad. It’s just really bad.

Pinochet would never pop up in an ad how good the picture may be, because his crimes have been high lit by journalists.

Leica is not known to have the best outlook on the world...

Anders

 

[Goodyear]

I wouldn't exactly call Che (the real person, versus the myth...note that I didn't say 'legend')

But for marketing, it's the legend that counts.

 

[JoeFriday]

true.. I've been in marketing for 15 years.. and I understand that it's all about perception, not reality

 

[Nikon Bob]

true.. I've been in marketing for 15 years.. and I understand that it's all about perception, not reality

Joe

Then you will also understand your reality or perception of it is not necessarily the same as others no matter how strongly you feel about it.

Bob

 

[Socke]

I have some cuban friends who think different on Che and Fidel as well. Most of them are old enough to remember live under Batisda before 1959.

If my memory serves me, the picture in question was taken by Henry Cartier-Bresson in 1963.

Actualy Che fell from grace in Cuba, himself. It was after his death in Bolivia that his hero image was restored in Cuba.

 

[unsharp]

One should respect the view of the victims, and be careful in a case like this. The reality of individual perspective is not a good excuse.

The ad is just wrong in my mind. Morally, but also from a marketing view:

I see that ad on the left page of a newspaper, and on the right page is an article about Che’s crimes to his opponents. That many of us Europeans still have a romantic view of some communist ideas may soften the financial impact of such a scenario, but that’s our shame.

I can think of many former dictators and revolutionary leaders here in Europe, and using “a great historic photo” of one of them could be a success in marketing to some segments but not others. Still wrong though.

 

[Andy K]

If my memory serves me, the picture in question was taken by Henry Cartier-Bresson in 1963.

The photograph was shot by Alberto Korda who died in 2001. Regardless of people's feelings about the man in the image, the photo itself is an icon of our times and was made with a Leica. I suspect that was the reasoning behind Leica's use of it.

 

[snaggs]

true.. I've been in marketing for 15 years.. and I understand that it's all about perception, not reality

The reason the USA needs so many marketing people is to dress up the slaughter of innocents and gross injustice that the US perpetuates against other sovereign states every day.

Give me Che over Bush anyday.. Che killed a 1000 people? Your average US CEO would have more blood than that on his hands.

Daniel.

 

[Bertram2]

I have some cuban friends who think different on Che and Fidel as well. Most of them are old enough to remember live under Batisda before 1959.

If my memory serves me, the picture in question was taken by Henry Cartier-Bresson in 1963.

Actualy Che fell from grace in Cuba, himself. It was after his death in Bolivia that his hero image was restored in Cuba.

More or less Fidel forced him to go to Bolivia and to die there. Officially he was responsible for the bad economics and had to leave the governement. Fidel was afraid of him. After his death he was tasteless enuff to build up that myth we all know..
Alberto Korda btw uses a Nikon FM with a 1.4/50 today as far as I could see in a movie I recently watched. 😉
Bertram

 

[titrisol]

Joe F
A lot of people have the highest regard for Guevara, he became an icon for a generation after his execution/assasination. Guevara is still considered a Freedom Fighter to many, sort of MartinLutherKing for latin America

I think the reasoning behind the brochure was a good idea, caught your attention didn;t it?
I understand your frustration, in that case don;t buy Leica, sell your leica stuff and organize a pickett against Leica. :bang:

Leica brochure on eb*y
I wonder who the brain surgeon at Leica was who thought using a communist assassin/thug would be a good marketing idea?

According to THIS ARTICLE his picture of Che Guevara is considered one of the most famous of the century. And it was taken with a Leica.
Look at the image here http://www.zonezero.com/kordasche/images/che.jpg
Taken from http://www.zonezero.com/kordasche/introsp.html

The author of that picture was Alberto Korda, who died a couple of years ago, and who wash cheated of all the royalties by an Italian publisher. However, I think that after a long legal battle he got some compensation that was donated to the Cuban health system.

The picture was snapped during a memorial service after a terrorist attack killed 100+ cubans, you can find a recount of the moment HERE
And it became an icon for the '68 generation, being printed in t-shirts, posters, even in the tummy of Myke Tyson!

 

[Trius]

feel free to check other sources.. you'll find the same information all over the web.. Che Guevara himself admitted to killing over a thousand political dissidents at the bidding of Castro.. whether the information I show you comes from an "exiled" cuban (as if there is such a thing.. that's like an exiled Auschwitz resident) or from other sources, it doesn't change what Guevara was

however, I don't understand the reasoning as to why a cuban who met the man and lived in his country wouldn't know as much about him as anyone else

anyway, sorry to get off on a tangent like that.. I was just shocked that anyone older than a college senior would think of him as a positive role model

I'm older than a college (university) senior, so pardon me.... EVERYTHING on the web is true, right?

And everything W is true, too. PUHLEEEZE!!!!

Trius