Hippies and former hippies probably have a lot of reasons to be bitter about the commercialization of their movement: think about the fact that Michael Jackson owns the right to The Beatles' songs, and is free to license them at will (whenever he needs a nose-job) to whatever purveyor of crap needs help hawking its imported wares on television.

Today's New York Times has an article on this phenomenon. GEICO is using images of the sixties counterculture -- VW buses and peace signs -- to sell car insurance.

Should the baby boomers -- or at least those who were part of this movement -- be upset? I think so. What was supposed to be a powerful force for change has been reduced to nostalgia -- in the middle of a war in Iraq that bears striking similarities to the one hippies worked so hard to end. It's as if corporate America has forgotten the substance of the message and used the pretty flowers to sell insurance.

You could argue that the hippies should be happy -- their message has, at least in some way, gone mainstream. It isn't controversial anymore. But what's really happened is that the controversial elements are now long and forgotten, and we're left with what is essentially a sanitized white bread version of a movement that was supposed to go against all that.

So what is to be done? Baby boomers who are turned off by corporations trying to exploit their youth should write to them and let them know. Who knows, perhaps they could even arrange a boycott and protest the advertising? Maybe what's needed is a rock festival.

If you want to invest like a hippie, you might consider a socially responsible mutual fund company like PaxWorld, which has a stellar track record. SocialFunds.com also has a lot of good SRI information. The rapid growth in conscience-based investing is a reflection of the legacy of the sixties counterculture -- GEICO ads are not.