Brad Burns, senior vice president of communications for Alcatel Americas in Plano, Texas, would not confirm the Gehrig spot. This is not just a Dr. King campaign. Arnold Worldwide, Boston creates the ads. The use of dead celebrities in ads is causing controversy. Critics call it macabre commercial exploitation.
Defenders say that heirs and estates have a right to use their property as they see fit.
Some figures make more money dead than alive. The group wants Alcatel to pull the TV and print ads, even though the King family approved the ads, Burns says. Despite protests, images of the dead seem to be a trend. A half-dozen new Citigroup ads star more dead icons than live ones, including John Lennon, Louis Armstrong, Helen Keller and Audrey Hepburn. And AIG is using baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson in an ad.