Mephisto: Dead men walking

Anyone in advertising knows the importance of endorsing a celebrity... Whole manuals have been written about and so I will not bore you with any of it. As I was walking through the ABC mall in Achrafieh, the Mephisto (Shoes store) caught my attention. It says: "The following celebrities wear Mephisto shoes: Queen Sofia, Princess Masako (Not shown in the photo as on the women's side of the display), Steven Spielberg, Robert De Niro, Clint Eastwood, Dany De Vito, Jean Vautrin, Marlon Brando, Luciano Pavarotti, John Paul II"... What an impressive list! Except for one thing: 30% of it is dead.

Marlon Brando, Luciano Pavarotti, and Pope John Paul II have all passed away - luckily for Mephisto none of them slipped on the sole of his shoe and broke his neck as a reason of dying - but still, bragging that dead people wear your shoes is not exactly the best way to convey a "lively" image of one's brand, unless they are trying to redefine the words "dead cool"...