Here I was scanning the product descriptions for "Fifty percent off original retail price, skip the middleman" or "Smoke-damaged furniture, you can drive it away today". This is very cool indeed--even gave me a little chill.
Ugh, I think he would be disgusted if somebody alerted him to this. His beliefs on shilling products as an artist are pretty strongly known, especially after winning at least one lawsuit regarding just that. I personally thought it was a tacky bit on Menard's part.
Speaking as a graphic designer, I doubt Menards as an organization had much to do with that quote going in there. The creative director didn't say, "Let's exploit Tom Waits this month."
Looks to me like a designer with good taste got something past the proofers. I think it's a win for the good guys.
Or maybe upper management said "Put some kind of quote at the bottom of each page. We don't care what." Still a win.
It's also very different (IMHO) from using his music without permission to sell jeans. Who knows, maybe somebody will be intrigued by that quote and will discover Tom's music... AND a deal on smoke detectors.
I agree, it's clearly a fan who slipped something past the proofers or Menards just said "use any quote". The quote is obviously not related to the products, won't help sell a thing, and most readers won't even know who he is. If it was a Hemingway quote it wouldn't matter or be exploitation. Tom's lawsuits were against companies trying to exploit his music without permission. This is something I have a feeling he would find funny.
5 comments:
Here I was scanning the product descriptions for "Fifty percent off original retail price, skip the middleman" or "Smoke-damaged furniture, you can drive it away today". This is very cool indeed--even gave me a little chill.
Ugh, I think he would be disgusted if somebody alerted him to this. His beliefs on shilling products as an artist are pretty strongly known, especially after winning at least one lawsuit regarding just that. I personally thought it was a tacky bit on Menard's part.
Speaking as a graphic designer, I doubt Menards as an organization had much to do with that quote going in there. The creative director didn't say, "Let's exploit Tom Waits this month."
Looks to me like a designer with good taste got something past the proofers. I think it's a win for the good guys.
Or maybe upper management said "Put some kind of quote at the bottom of each page. We don't care what." Still a win.
It's also very different (IMHO) from using his music without permission to sell jeans. Who knows, maybe somebody will be intrigued by that quote and will discover Tom's music... AND a deal on smoke detectors.
Couldn't disagree more.
I agree, it's clearly a fan who slipped something past the proofers or Menards just said "use any quote". The quote is obviously not related to the products, won't help sell a thing, and most readers won't even know who he is. If it was a Hemingway quote it wouldn't matter or be exploitation. Tom's lawsuits were against companies trying to exploit his music without permission. This is something I have a feeling he would find funny.
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