In yet another “homage” if you will, a brand has “borrowed” the imagery of an artist for commercial gain. In this case, it’s 1800 Tequila giving nod to the work of artist Charles Burns. Eric Reynolds has the image here. Once he saw the ad, he contacted Burns who said the ad was a complete surprise to him though, perhaps in a nod to his own work, he added “makes me wanna drink some tequila.”
If you’re going to have your work “stolen” the least it should do is work in the form for which it’s been “stolen” for. According the artist, himself, the work seems to have accomplished that task. Burns’ work can be seen here.
UPDATE: Dead As We Know It, creator of the work, defends:
Actually this campaign was created by my agency, Dead As We Know It, using many pieces of art from artists around the world. This was just one of a large number. If you go to www.1800tequila.com you can see all of them. Eventually there will be 1800 pieces. Jorge Alderete, of Mexico City, has a great portfolio encompassing a wide range of work, possibly influenced by Charles Burns as well as all the cartoon and graphic work that Charles Burns was influenced by. By no means did we originally try to get Charles Burns or someone to cop his style. We saw a cool CD cover that Jorge did and acquired another piece in the series. Check him out, https://www.pocko.com/pockopeople/artist/jorge-alderete/
Seems to be a month of people accusing people of thievery, really sad statement on the state of things. And, just as my agency wasn’t ripped-off by Amalgamated for the Virtual Drinking Buddy, we did not rip-off Mr. Burns or one ad in this extensive campaign. So, let’s shut-up and get back to the noble profession that we are known for.
