Picture of the Day: A little something from Tar-che
"What's next? Hitler backpacks?"
By AcademicElephant Posted in Contra Tyrannum — Comments (33) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
"Targeting Che" from Investor's Business Daily alerted me to a fun new stocking stuffer being offered by Target this year--a Che Guevara CD case. There's lots of Che kitsch out there, but I thought this a particularly interesting example because of the mainstream venue. I mean, one expects to find Che's image in counter-culture venues--street vendors, head shops and the like--but at Target?
I couldn't find the object on the store's website, so on a recent visit to our local store I asked a befuddled electronics employee if he had a Che CD case. He said no, he didn't think so--that they just stocked the plain cases but that I could look. We walked over to the appropriate section, and there it was. In a well-stocked wall there was one shelf that was almost empty--the Che shelf. I grabbed the last one and brought it home to photograph.
Read on...
As IBD puts it:
All this reflects an indifference to history. For some real market research, Target ought to go to Miami, a shopper haven that is a place of exile for the 20% of Cubans who fled for their lives from Guevara's communist Cuba.
For them, Guevara was no hip revolutionary with a free spirit wearing earbuds, as the Target CD case shows. He was a psychopath with a central role in Cuba's 1961 mass executions in the "year of the wall." Guevara signed at least 600 death warrants and executed children against firing squad walls; he was responsible for at least 2,000 deaths.
After that, the Argentine-born communist organized Cuba's gulag. His violence was so over the top it scared even Castro, who eventually sent him away to fight mercenary wars in Africa.
Guevara also left a lot to be desired on a personal level, never paying bills, living in houses he confiscated and wearing Gatsby suits and smoking from a cigarette holder as Cubans starved.
Target would be well-advised to yank the Guevara trash from its shelves, melt it down and purchase their buyer some history lessons. Even for the sake of self-interest, it would make sense, because marketing Guevara probably will come back to bite.
The ailing Castro is en route to the ash heap of history and freedom's gales are blowing through the land he has long oppressed. If there is any justice, there will be a democracy and there will be a reckoning. Leftists who romanticized Guevara will be called out and the consequences will reach U.S. shores.
I do find it ironic that the designers of this object decided to stick iPod's signature white earbuds into Che's ears--especially with Americans in training in the Latin American Medical Center who went on record only last week that they were going "minimalist" in the island paradise and learning to do without their iPods. How many of the Cubans that Che helped to "liberate" could afford an iPod and CDs to load on to it, or would have access to iTunes to stock it with MP3 files? I wonder if Apple knows about this adaptation of their product?
Even though it only cost $4.99 and I don't plan to do anymore shopping at Target, I'll be battling back through the crowds to return the CD case today. I don't want my children seeing that sort of thing around our house.
Babalu, Fausta and Gateway Pundit have more.
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Picture of the Day: A little something from Tar-che 33 Comments (0 topical, 33 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
and the Che baby wipes.
Good Christmas gifts.
I saw this yesterday and sent a e-mail to Target, it is not found on the Target website because they have teamed with Amazon and then you use the Target checkout. I hope you put a link to Target so that your readers can then just click on over and leave a message notifying them that they will not shop there as I did. I can shop at Walmart and for some better clothes items I can go to Kohl's or Macy's that's the beauty of the free market system I can choose never to give another damn dime to Target and they can choose to promote socialist thugs and murderers.
Peace through superior fire power:)
That would be a good gift: Che in the bullseye, at firing ranges everywhere.
"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill
(And not even Jesus would shop there)... the obvious choice for the communists to shop at is Target. It's only natural that Target should provide goods that their clients demand. No wait... that's how CAPITALISM works! Hmmm... what are those communists going to do?
Socialism doesn't work. It looks nice on paper, but it's been tried and it's failed miserably every time (usually accompanied by widespread death and suffering).
Proud member of the V.R.W.C.
Is that the real reason celebs pronounce Target the way they do?
...Anyway, I think Che dartboards would be a better idea...
"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal comfort... has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
--John Stuart Mill
...that I had towards Che showing up in ALW's Evita: the odds are exceptionally good that at least some of the money generated from this marketing scheme will end up being spent in order to allow some guy to snort cocaine off of a hooker's buttocks.
Sums up Che's meaning, life and message pretty well, I'd say.
Moe
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC.
on my lifestyle. Besides, I might do hookers and blow, but I would never wear anything with a commie stooge on it.
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle
_______________________________
If "pro" is the opposite of "con", what is the opposite of "progress"?
Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber are both Conservatives.
Quentin Langley
Editor of http://www.quentinlangley.net
The next chance I get because I really think this would be a fun plinking target for my RWS/Diana Model 52. I'll see if I can get a few of them and post some pictures of my "Tar-che" practice.
[Aside: For anyone who was wondering, the RWS is working beautifully and becomes more fun to use each time I take it out. If anything, it has become more accurate and powerful as I break the barrel in. I'm doing a modified target-rifle break-in/cleaning procedure with it, just with a few more shots between barrel cleanings than I would with an actual firearm. Another 500 rounds and it should place shots inside of shots inside of shots. My initial review is posted now at the link above. I'm using RWS Meisterkugeln Standard pellets in .22 at 14 grains and it's just a phenomenal air rifle in that caliber. Definitely recommended for Christmas if you have the means.]
Che was always about Che. Capitalism, communism, I don't think it mattered that much. He got taken up with Castro because the Cuban reds had use for a doctor, even one with limited experience and talent. His demise was appropriate... inept military leader, captured, and executed with no fanfare.
..he's a 20th Century Fox.
To bad you couldn't get a photo of the Warholic display of rows of Che.
You know, if this Che merchandise are so popular, maybe I could make a fortune with this shirt idea...
--
Run like Reagan!
I'm rather happy that the Che image was doctored to include headphones. Is there anything better than capitalists making money off the image of someone who would have wanted them dead? It's irony and it's wonderful, not something to abandon a quality store over.
International Affairs is just Political Science with an accent.
The estate of Alberto Korda certainly has the right to sue Target, although the only time he objected to commercialization of his photo was when it was used by Smirnoff in 2000. He sued and won and donated the money to the Cuban healthcare system. Korda himself died in May 2001.
I always thought that the whole idea of copyright was an attempt by the bourgeoisie capitalists to claim private ownership over what ought to be public goods. Don't tell me that the estate of Comrade Che subscribes to such imperialist running-dog concepts?
Contact me through my e-mail (the Editors have it). I'll pay you $50 + postage, if you send me the following:
- The CD case
- The original packaging--which (hopefully) still has the Target price tag on it
- The receipt from Target, with any identifying credit card/name info blocked out.
I will take it, and make a present of it to...oh, say, Hugh Hewitt. Or Sean Hannity. Or Bill Bennett. Or Bill O'Reilley. Or Brian Kilmeade on Fox and Friends.
The possibilities are endless. But, if you return it to Target, they get the chance to destroy the evidence, and downplay this whole affair.
If, on the other hand, they see Brian Kilmeade holding that CD wallet in his hands on Fox and Friends, while he asks a Cuban American about Che's real legacy---well, I imagine THAT image would give Target's PR department a real headache.
I'm serious. Fifty bucks, plus your postage.
Target is standing on a PR trapdoor, and you're holding the lever. Don't give them the chance to walk away unnoticed.
"Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?" (Macaulay)
Smagar you *rock*. That's a fantastic idea.
AE, Smagar is right. Don't bring that case back. And if I can get my hands on one I'm not going to shoot at it, either. It's too valuable.
She's probably still standing in line at the Target Customer Service desk! It might not be too late to transmit the "abort" code to her!
"Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?" (Macaulay)
So I drove to my local Target to verify that these were actually for sale there. Yes, indeed they were, and I bought the last three that were on the shelf.
In the true spirit of Crass Capitalism (lackey and running-dog that I am) I will gladly accept offers on one of them from any RedStater I know, and auction the others on eBay, should these become a popular item. With each one, I'll include the original, untouched packaging and a high-resolution scan and printout of the original receipt, front and back, just digitally altered to obscure the CC info.
And yes, I paid for my Che Guevara CD wallets with my American Express Platinum card.
If AE declines (I offered it to her first), my offer is still open. I'll buy one. $50 plus postage. Send me an e-mail address, or ask Erick/Clayton to contact me.
Or, if you'd like to be the one to offer it to Kilmeade or Hannity or O'Reilley (TV) or Hewitt/Bennett (radio), feel free. I just want to see some conservative celebrity give this some major airplay.
"Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?" (Macaulay)
Public knowledge here at RedState (and I have the spam to prove it!) Shoot me an email so that I can respond. It's your idea to offer it to the media so I'll be happy to let you take the credit. If AE no longer has hers/doesn't want to get involved, I'll give you the Special Longstanding RedStater Discount Rate on one of them: Cost + Shipping. :)
Then, kowalski, I'll take you up on your Special Longstanding RedStater Discount Rate.
"Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?" (Macaulay)
I would take the original offer if I were you. Use the $50 to buy something for your Dean to assuage the fact that you're a Republican, like a nice bottle of scotch. ;)
And in exchange I'll promise that if I make any money selling the three that I have I'll donate a significant portion of the proceeds to RedState.
You realize you've just help to flag this as a "hot" item for Target? Since they've sold out, they'll order more? And since this Che item was so popular, they'll start stocking tee-shirts, backpacks, and other item with his image?
As I said, that's how capitalism works. Producers and retailers try to provide the goods that their customers want. It would drive the commie murderer insane if he were still alive. 8*)
Socialism doesn't work. It looks nice on paper, but it's been tried and it's failed miserably every time (usually accompanied by widespread death and suffering).
Proud member of the V.R.W.C.
As the Target store managers in Miami and in military towns watch Kilmeade discuss the legacy of Che while holding the TarChe CD case, they can turn from their TVs to watch...their employees restocking their store shelves with newly-arrived copies of that same Che CD case---Target's own acknowledgement that it thinks that the image of Che is a positive one!
"Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?" (Macaulay)
An intentional buying decision on the part of Target, Inc. The store I visited had a very limited selection of CD cases, and so whoever is responsible for purchasing for their electronics department definitely saw this case and logo and thought: "This will sell."
Lenin once said that a capitalist would sell you the rope to hang him with.
Turns out that he had it wrong. The capitalist will make money selling pictures of communists after the communists are dead and buried.
If Miamians swoon over the latest in Che chic, I bet Tom Tancredo will love to visit that Third World dump. LOL
But then again ...
~(Ä)~
Red Stater with Blue State Blues
More good stuff @ Che-Mart
Madhouse Thought and The Minority Report