Thou shalt not voodoo...
>> 3 December 2008
At the beginning of October K&B started commercializing a voodoo doll made in the image of French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. It comes with a manual that gives tips on how and where to plant your pins to put a curse on him.
The Prime Minister apparently did not think this was funny (as opposed to Ségolène Royal - Sarkozy's socialist rival - whose doll was also put on the market and who did not sue but took this with humor) and took legal action to get the dolls taken back from the market. He demanded a ban, arguing that he owns the right to his image and had never authorized the doll
A court in Paris, however, threw out the request, ruling that the doll was protected by what it called "the right to humor". The dolls continue to be sold with a label stating that they are 'offensive to the president'.
The doll has since become a best-selling cult item and the news has seized on the news as a welcome distraction from the declining economy.
Funnily enough, when Sarkozy was interior minister in 2006, he defended the right of newspapers to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that offended many Muslims.
With his behavior he has only added to the success of the product and made himself a bit ridiculous. Imagine if Bush had to sue everyone using his face for humor and satire....
And what would a psychologist say about this reaction?
3 comments:
I much like Ségolène Royal's response vs. Nicholas Sarkozy's. :) Our response to things does say a lot about us, doesn't it! I think this reminds me to laugh more. Good luck to Sarkozy getting it all cleared up! :)
I am quite sympathetic to Sarkozy's response. I would personally be very disturbed if someone decided to start mass producing voodoo dolls with my face on them. Although I would be thrilled to be the subject of cartoons.
It might be a 'joke' to some people... but you have to appreciate there is a rich occult tradition relating to these 'dolls.'
@ Jennifer: I agree, our response says a lot about us. I prefer Segolene's as well.
@ John: I agree that there is a rich occult tradition related to these dolls. I also think that as a politician you have to stand above such things. He made the thing much bigger than it was and many more dolls were sold and many more people are now sticking pins into them :-) So do you attract what you do?
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