Marilyn Monroe lived and died in an age blissfully free of the tawdry taint of social networks, but that hasn’t stopped some chancer opening a Facebook account in her name and recruiting over millions of fans under the banner of the Monroe brand.
Fifty years after the Hollywood icon’s death and it’s still very much a case of goodbye Norma Jeane and hello sacred cash cow. Since her untimely demise at the age of 36 in 1962 the tragic starlet has been prime product for the money men who continue to milk millions from the 21st century pop culture phenomenon
Monroe also has 242,000 Twitter followers, which is kind of ironic considering she never wrote a tweet and if she was alive today she would be an old lady in her 90s.
Who’s responsible for the latest round of perpetual pimping of Marilyn Monroe as the world’s most profitable corpse? The Authentic Brands Group and its partner, NECA who purchased Monroe’s estate in late 2010, that’s who.
The Authentic Brands Group also own the Elvis Presley brand and have this to say on their website.
“Elvis Presley speaks to the rebel inside all of us – the rebel that defies convention and strives to forge a path of truth, passion and individuality. The Elvis Presley brand is ever-evolving and constantly redefining itself in relationship to contemporary culture.”
Yes indeedy, do, do.
As far as Monroe is concerned, her hourglass figure, platinum locks, cherry red lips, bedroom eyes and breathless wonder are all prime assets in a marketing strategy which involves developing Marilyn-themed cosmetics, spas and salons, sportswear, swimwear, footwear, handbags and more, much more.
Yet as we all know, Marilyn’s biggest source of revenue is her legend. As far as the money machine’s movers and shakers are concerned, the sex symbol’s mysterious death was a perfect career choice. Not only did she become fixed for all eternity in the public’s perception as forever young, forever fragile, and forever free of anything that could harm her future image, such as age, regret, wisdom, or her big brassy mouth, but the murky nature of her death has kept Monroe fans buzzing with conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory – and as all dizzy blondes know, you can’t beat a drama!
Marilyn is a frozen goddess in a white dress with a wiggle in her walk and a giggle in a her talk.
She was the most photographed person of the 20th century and each individual image of her is forever waiting and continually yearning for the viewer to invest it with a new meaning and deeper significance.
The cult of Monroe attracts new disciples with each generation. Most of them are keen to emulate their icon but are not so concerned about finding out what it actually takes to walk a mile in Monroe’s shoes and there is a big difference.
The sort of empty-headed and vain little vamps who pepper their Facebook accounts with such worn and tired Monroe quotes as, “I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best,” want the image but not the intellect, the glamour but not the grind, and the fame without the tragedy and vulnerability which made the troubled girl from California so unique.
On what would have been Marilyn’s 86th birthday, Lady Gaga tweeted “Happy Birthday Marilyn – They’ll never take our blonde hair and lipstick”, along with a picture of herself.
Lady Gaga was wrong, if you grow old, age will take your blonde hair, and either embarrassment or dignity will take your lipstick. If on the other hand you die young, they’ll take everything, including your image, memory, legacy, legend and if you’re not careful, your very soul, before rubbing their hands and using it all just to turn a buck.
