# Commercials using dead people **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 30, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669 "2010-09-30T23:06:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/21 "2010-10-04T04:22:15Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > I recall Reebok running a print ad that showed a photo of James Dean wearing a pair of their sneakers. There was some kerfuffle raised about it at the time. I have a poster from my shoe-selling days that shows James Dean in a pair of Jack Percells (by Converse). It was a still from behind the scenes of a movie he was shooting. He’s wearing glasses and reading a script. He did actually wear the shoes, so it doesn’t bother me that they are using his likeness. I doubt he actually ever wore Reeboks, so that would be weird. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/22 "2010-10-04T04:30:50Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > > [@Kizarvexius](#): > > > > I recall Reebok running a print ad that showed a photo of James Dean wearing a pair of their sneakers. There was some kerfuffle raised about it at the time. > > I have a poster from my shoe-selling days that shows James Dean in a pair of Jack Percells (by Converse). It was a still from behind the scenes of a movie he was shooting. He’s wearing glasses and reading a script. He did actually wear the shoes, so it doesn’t bother me that they are using his likeness. I doubt he actually ever wore Reeboks, so that would be weird. Missed my edit window: Purcells ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/23 "2010-10-04T05:39:37Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > > [@Nobody](#): > > > > [Still the creepiest of them all](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fcn4p213Zg8) > > He just keeps popping up. Wa wa wa waaaaaa ((((GONG))))) 😃 Gong show reference, in case anybody wondered what I meant. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > > [@Nobody](#): > > > > [Still the creepiest of them all](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fcn4p213Zg8) > > What’s creepy about it? Stupid tie. > 🙂 Uhm, yeah, sure. That’s it. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/24 "2010-10-04T06:41:01Z")
Aussie actor John Meillon was still the voice in ads for Victoria Bitter 20 years after his death. [Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxjjTiUe2Sw) is one of the original 60s ads. After his death they edited pieces of old stuff together to get new voiceovers featuring different activities. Sydney studio Hello Testing was able to isolate syllables from Meillon’s lines which they reassembled to create new words. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/25 "2010-10-04T06:51:23Z")
WEll, Paine Furniture was using Humphrey Bogard (died in 1959) to plug their furniture. The Coca Cola folks also had Bogart in a commercial. My question: why would you use long-dead actors? Most people cannot remember what happened yesterday-who (outside of old film buffs) actually know who these people were? The Coke ad also had James Gagney as well-another face from the dim past. Of course, pretty soon we will be able to use computer simulation to resurrect long-dead actors…so perhaps we will see more of this in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/26 "2010-10-04T07:31:01Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > > [@SteveG1](#): > > > > Wasn’t there an anti smoking one with Yul Brynner? > > He had made it while he was alive but knew he was dying of lung cancer, specifically intending it to be aired after his death. So it wasn’t food poisoning? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/27 "2010-10-04T10:47:50Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I also remember a commercial with Fred Astaire doing a dance routine with a… broom? …vacuum cleaner? If it’s a broom, sounds like it could just be a part of his Takin’ On The Ritz routine (it’s available in YouTube); if it was a vacuum cleaner, it might be the same piece, edited. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/28 "2010-10-04T11:08:18Z")
The Gene Kelly dancing commercial made me want to run screaming from the room - it was like seeing his corpse reanimated and ridden by a loa. Scary zombie Gene! The Bob Monkhouse one, OTOH, was beautifully done - funny and poignant. Bob would have loved it. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/29 "2010-10-04T11:20:43Z")
It wasn’t quite the same thing, since AFAIK the actors weren’t dead but just grown up – but Tostitos tortilla chips had this spokesman that looked like Gomez from the Addams Family and sounded a bit like Ricardo Montalban. The commercials had him shot in black in white and pretending to interact with Wally and the Beav from “Leave it to Beaver” (inserting him into actual footage from the TV show), with a laugh track and everything. That struck me as just wrong somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/30 "2012-06-12T14:20:28Z")
I thought we had a more recent thread on this topic, but I could only find this one. Anyway. A lawsuit may result from unauthorized use of a Marilyn Monroe hologram: [http://news.moviefone.com/2012/06/11/marilyn-monroe-hologram-lawsuit\_n\_1587869.html](http://news.moviefone.com/2012/06/11/marilyn-monroe-hologram-lawsuit_n_1587869.html) ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/31 "2012-06-13T05:53:06Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Wasn’t there an anti smoking one with Yul Brynner? The most famous of these was the William Talman (The DA on the long running Perry Mason series) PSA just before he died from cancer. This was one of the first shots across the bow of the tobacco industry. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/XmjRkpge-jk/hqdefault.jpg "William Talman Anti-Smoking Ad 1968") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmjRkpge-jk) ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/32 "2012-06-13T07:08:25Z")
Did the thread title remind anyone else of those fake commercials for funeral products in the pilot of **Six Feet Under**? ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/33 "2012-06-13T12:28:36Z")
Apple’s [**think different campaign**](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImE8ZyoKUaQ) (YouTube). ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/34 "2012-06-13T14:34:42Z")
Mercedes-Benz used footage of Martin Luther King, Jr. to shill for their product back in 2010. It’s just really hard to think that King would have wanted his image used to sell a car most people couldn’t afford. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/35 "2012-06-13T14:48:47Z")
Glad the thread is active…when will we see the long dead actors re-appearing in movies? I’d like to see remakes of the old “Mr. Moto” movies. ---
**Author:** ![jerseymule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jerseymule/32/3155_2.png) [@jerseymule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerseymule)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/36 "2012-06-13T14:55:59Z")
[http://fashionista.com/2011/09/watch-charlize-theron-hangs-out-backstage-with-marilyn-monroe-grace-kelly-and-marlene-dietrich-for-dior-jadore/](http://fashionista.com/2011/09/watch-charlize-theron-hangs-out-backstage-with-marilyn-monroe-grace-kelly-and-marlene-dietrich-for-dior-jadore/) J’Adore perfume with Marlene Dietrich, Grace Kelly, and Marlilyn Monroe ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/37 "2012-06-13T15:47:34Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Mercedes-Benz used footage of Martin Luther King, Jr. to shill for their product back in 2010. It’s just really hard to think that King would have wanted his image used to sell a car most people couldn’t afford. They also pretty famously (and inappropriately) used a recording of Janis Joplin singing about her “Mercedes Benz”, therefore leapfrogging the irony and pissing off lots of Joplin fans. Dave Barry expressed a desire for her to return from the dead and strangle those responsible. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/AjTuRDW2NHY/hqdefault.jpg ""Oh Lord Won't You Buy Me A Mercedes-Benz" TVC") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjTuRDW2NHY) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/38 "2012-06-13T16:56:09Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Dave Barry expressed a desire for her to return from the dead and strangle those responsible. Dave Barry is cool. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/39 "2012-06-13T17:12:15Z")
Ford used Steve McQueen in a [couple](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2OV7Zz4VsM) [adverts](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZzXHq7gKN8) in 2005. Tasteful. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669/40 "2012-06-13T21:04:44Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Mercedes-Benz used footage of Martin Luther King, Jr. to shill for their product back in 2010. It’s just really hard to think that King would have wanted his image used to sell a car most people couldn’t afford. Maybe not M L King Jr but the King Foundation went along and okayed it, for money. Give them a big helping of blame.[http://www.salon.com/2010/09/30/martin\_luther\_king\_meredes\_ad/singleton/#comments](http://www.salon.com/2010/09/30/martin_luther_king_meredes_ad/singleton/#comments) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-using-dead-people/555669.md?page=3)