A brilliant final touch from Adam Yauch, who inserted an integrity clause into his will to prevent his music from ever being co-opted — if only other cultural icons past had thought to do this. Via DNAinfo:
Late Beastie Boys member MCA made sure he would never be a corporate sellout — even in the afterlife. The pioneering rapper, whose real name is Adam Yauch, instructed in his will that his image, music and any art he created could not be used for advertising, saving himself from the fate of other deceased musicians whose faces and songs have become corporate shills.
It’s unclear whether Yauch’s will would prevent his bandmates from ever selling the music they wrote together to advertisers. Yauch’s lawyer and a spokesman for the Beastie Boys did not respond to requests for comment. Yauch died May 4 at the age of 47 from salivary cancer.
Corporations have regulalry enlisted deceased musicians, celebrities and historical figures in ads. In 1997, Apple used the images of John Lennon, Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi in a black-and-white commercial to launch its “Think Different” campaign.
