Adrants reader Molly sent us a spot in which JFK is reanimated and his words altered to promote sustainable energy technology.
CG technology was used to “remodel JFK’s mouth word for word,” according to the pressie. Produced by AKQA with help from The Ambassadors/Amsterdam for Greenpeace, it debuted last Monday at a press briefing in Berlin.
AgencySpy said it was “nearly as creepy as Crispin’s reanimation of Orville Redenbacher.” I wouldn’t say that, but the speech did have the feel of disturbed funerary dust to it. Not to say the message itself wasn’t pretty:
“Will we look into the eyes of our children and confess that we had the opportunity but lacked the courage; that we had the technology but lacked the vision?”
Advertising is inextricably tied to fantasy, and I guess there’s something in fantasy that flirts with the idea of manipulating history. Here, appropriating the likeness, tone and affectation of a person, giving him a new message, and spreading it worldwide, was done with good intentions. But if we smile and nod to this, are we then saying it’s okay to repurpose the dead, provided we’re pushing a worldview and not just a product?
