One photo was enough to turn the anti-capitalist into a marketer’s dream.
Ernesto Che Guevara is considered a symbol of courage, rebellion, protest, and informal thinking.
His portraits are applied to T-shirts, mugs, lighters, beach towels, wallets, and even bikinis. Restaurants, stores, alcoholic beverages, and cigars are named after him.
But behind all this, the personality of the Argentine revolutionary was somehow forgotten. And the real Che hardly sought such popularity.
HOW A PHOTO CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING
On March 5, 1960, after the victory of the Cuban Revolution, Che attended a memorial rally dedicated to the victims of the explosion of an armed ship in the port of Havana.
There he was photographed by Cuban journalist Alberto Korda. Later, a picture of Che standing alone by the side became known worldwide.
Based on this picture, the Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick created the famous red and black portrait.
The photo remained unknown to the general public for a long time until seven years later; it came to the attention of the Italian left-wing activist Giangiacomo Feltrinelli.
He asked Korda for a copy of the image and willingly took a few.
FROM THE UNDERGROUND TO GLOBAL BRANDS
The photographer never fought for the copyright of this image and allowed its free distribution.
Coincidentally, at that very moment, 39-year-old Guevara was wounded during the war in Bolivia, captured, secretly executed, and buried in an unknown location.
The clever businessman Feltrinelli, without thinking twice, started selling posters with Korda’s photo. Six months later, he sold more than two million of them.
Che’s shot soon became one of the most recognizable images in the world, along with Nike’s logo and McDonald’s golden arches.
PORTRAITS OF AN ANTI-CAPITALIST MAKE MONEY TODAY
Che was a staunch critic of consumer society. He advocated equality, not the ability to demonstrate one’s higher status by buying something. Under him, private companies and even casinos were nationalized.
Nowadays, a person can visit an online casino Mrbet without leaving home and play for fun and win money. But at that time, a land-based casino was a symbol of luxury.
Che Guevara sharply criticized capitalism, considered the free market system wrong and discriminatory, and advocated that rich countries help the poor for free. The Comandante himself went to public works, even when he became a minister.
Knowing that his portraits have become money-makers for those who know nothing about the Revolution or Che himself would hardly please the famous Cuban.
It is no coincidence that his descendants are still trying to fight the commercialization of the revolutionary image.
However, when the palm tree and another person disappeared from Korda’s 1960 photo, it no longer had political connotations and became a fashionable image.
And now, even in socialist Cuba, Guevara portraits are sold as postcards and souvenirs.
GROWING POPULARITY
The martyrdom of a man who dedicated himself to his cause to the end and finally fell for it excited many. After all, there were legends surrounding the commander, even during his lifetime.
Rallies commemorating Che Guevara took place worldwide, and riots broke out in some cities.
T-shirts with the same likeness as the Comandante could be seen at rock festivals and hippie demonstrations.
And the 1968 protest movement unfolded largely with Che’s name on its lips and his face on banners.
It was the student demonstrations of those years that made Che famous. His image began to inspire entirely different people, and the Argentine himself became almost a religious idol.
It is not surprising because, at that time, the whole world was about the photos of a dead revolutionary who looked like Christ.
In some parts of Latin America, the Comandante, a convinced atheist, is still considered a saint. And even in India, a bronze bust of the Comandante can now be found.
A ROMANTIC SYMBOL
Above all, this is why Che Guevara is today a symbol of a romantic revolutionary, a fearless idealist, and a fighter for freedom and justice.
His image embodies the qualities that many wish to possess.
And people strive to get closer to this ideal. Che’s portrait has become an element of culture and fashion and has long been associated with more than just the Cuban Revolution.
With information from Latina Press
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