The Commercialization / Exploitation of Art
Amid the anger and outrage over Dewar's "The Baron" ad and the (very brief) discussion about why the ad produced for Dewar's international campaign wasn't being used in North America, we lost sight of something equally important: the exploitation and commercialization of art by corporations for the purpose of profit. This isn't an entirely new issue, but it has been in the news as of late, with the Beastie Boys vs. Goldieblox and Banksy vs. WalMart being two of the more notable recent instances, but it is an important issue, and I bring it up in the context of the Dewar's ads for the simple fact that for its international ad, Dewar's makes use of the Tom O'Bedlam reading of Charles Bukowski's (1920-1994) poem 'So You Want to be a Writer'.
'So You Want to be a Writer' is a beautiful poem in its own right, but O'Bedlam's Gandalf-like voice suits it perfectly, and every line oozes Bukowski's almost Zen-like "Don't Try" philosophy: don't try, just do it, without thinking, without over analyzing, without effort, and if it doesn't work, then perhaps it wasn't something that you were meant to do. Don't pour your energy into something that doesn't feel natural. Instead, wait, and be patient, and perhaps it will come to you, but don't force it. And I think this aspect of the poem is lost in the Dewar's ad, which to me is just an extended YOLO-ish hash-tag aimed at the hipster generation (Dewar's is in marketing, after all):
Bukowski may have had a fondness for alcohol (although who knows if he drank Dewar's...), and perhaps he would have enjoyed seeing his work used to sell whisky, but I don't think that he would have been overly thrilled with the way the poem has been abridged for the purposes of the ad, which, as Open Culture notes, has had some of the references to writing removed in order to make the poem appeal to a wider audience, namely, men...and not just any men, but men engaged in "manly" past times - rock climbers, cowboys, rugby players, musicians, race car drivers, mechanics, etc., etc. - who for some reason need to be reminded, by a whisky company no less, that they should "live true" to themselves. And where are the women? Briefly seen, and then only in a context that I am not entirely certain of.
Is the message that Dewar's whisky is "authentic", and has been "authentic" since its inception, that Dewar's doesn't need to "try" because its whisky is just that good? Or is it that we need Dewar's whisky to be true to ourselves? I'm not sold either way, and neither are the folks at DangerousMinds.net.
'So You Want to be a Writer' is a beautiful poem in its own right, but O'Bedlam's Gandalf-like voice suits it perfectly, and every line oozes Bukowski's almost Zen-like "Don't Try" philosophy: don't try, just do it, without thinking, without over analyzing, without effort, and if it doesn't work, then perhaps it wasn't something that you were meant to do. Don't pour your energy into something that doesn't feel natural. Instead, wait, and be patient, and perhaps it will come to you, but don't force it. And I think this aspect of the poem is lost in the Dewar's ad, which to me is just an extended YOLO-ish hash-tag aimed at the hipster generation (Dewar's is in marketing, after all):
Click to viewBukowski may have had a fondness for alcohol (although who knows if he drank Dewar's...), and perhaps he would have enjoyed seeing his work used to sell whisky, but I don't think that he would have been overly thrilled with the way the poem has been abridged for the purposes of the ad, which, as Open Culture notes, has had some of the references to writing removed in order to make the poem appeal to a wider audience, namely, men...and not just any men, but men engaged in "manly" past times - rock climbers, cowboys, rugby players, musicians, race car drivers, mechanics, etc., etc. - who for some reason need to be reminded, by a whisky company no less, that they should "live true" to themselves. And where are the women? Briefly seen, and then only in a context that I am not entirely certain of.
Is the message that Dewar's whisky is "authentic", and has been "authentic" since its inception, that Dewar's doesn't need to "try" because its whisky is just that good? Or is it that we need Dewar's whisky to be true to ourselves? I'm not sold either way, and neither are the folks at DangerousMinds.net.