Is the commercialization of the sixties something to mourn?

Posted Dec 11th 2007 5:33PM by Zac Bissonnette
Filed under: Newspapers, Marketing and Advertising, Scandals

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.

Tags: commercialization, counterculture, Hiippies, Sixties

Print this

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

12-11-2007 @ 8:21PM

Doug said...

Only if you want to get hurranged by the cops, as if you were 16.

12-12-2007 @ 12:22AM

THE TRUTH said...

Guess it still hurts a lot of white people that Michael Jackson still owns that Beatles catalog doesn't it? Oh the pain...Why don't do you guys just grow up & move on...Think about it like this, Paul McCartney also owns music by many other artists. Why doesn't he give their music back to them? McCartney is a little girl who cries about his catalog that he wasn't smart enough to buy back in the 80s.

12-12-2007 @ 1:00AM

Mitch said...

Good history, popular history, sells. Selling the Sixties now is no different than selling 1776 in 1976. Awash in patriotism we emblazoned everything we could with our and colors flag-mostly in the interest of the almighty dollar. Lets be glad our (the Sixties) history is marketable at all-as opposed to other less than desireable histories we've endured (the dust bowl years, the depression, Tsa la gi -Trail of Tears/tribal relocation...etc).