The South African investment firm that brought James Dean back from the dead to sell stocks
We live in a tasteless society. The Kardashians, Love Island, the excrement disguised as populist politicians – the list goes on. But we must draw the line somewhere, mustn’t we? And that line really should stop well before anyone goes resurrecting dead celebrities to peddle capitalism.
Unfortunately, not everyone got the memo on that one, and it was the late James Dean who suffered the consequences.
When he died in a car crash in 1955, the Giant star was just 24. The combination of his meteoric rise to stardom and sudden death has turned him into one of the most iconic figures of the 20th century, and while you or I might use that fact as inspiration to watch Rebel Without a Cause or drive at a sensible speed, one investment firm drew different conclusions.
In 2009, the South African investment firm Allan Gray released a television advert depicting a version of Dean’s life had he lived past 24. With the help of sombre black-and-white and sparse piano, it presents an older iteration of the star racing in an own-brand race car, directing a movie, accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award, opposing the Vietnam War, and, unfortunately, cradling partially clothed Black children in what appears to be some sort of white saviour humanitarian stunt. All of this is accompanied by a husky voiceover describing him as “no ordinary man”, “part myth; part legend”, and someone who “lived enough life for 10 people”.
Then, the ad goes all the way, taking us to a highway and showing a recreation of the car crash that killed him. The screen fades to black, and a tagline appears: “Given more time, imagine the possibilities.” On its heels is a humble reminder: “Allan Gray: long-term investing.”
This is fucked up on multiple levels. For one thing, it is highly questionable whether you should ever depict a violent death for the sake of an advertisement, and if you do, you definitely should not recreate an actual death of a real human being. For another, what was the point they were trying to make? That Dean might have been able to swerve at the last minute if only he’d put a little money aside? That if he’d saved for retirement, he could have afforded the luxury of protesting America’s military industrial complex?
Dean died without a will, and because he had no spouse or children, his estate passed to his estranged father through intestate law. He was an only child, and when his father died in 1995, his estate went to whoever his heirs were. In other words, there is no way to know whether Dean would have wanted to be the face of a South African investment firm, but I’m guessing the answer is no. He was a rebel, after all, and what could be more banal than long-term investing? Perhaps the conclusion we should draw from the ad is that making a will is non-negotiable.
Bizarrely, the ad was met with near-universal praise. Even that lefty little rag known as The Guardian gushed that it was being lauded as “an instant classic”. These days, with AI breathing down the neck of Hollywood, a 2009 commercial using a celebrity doppelgänger and CGI trickery seems like a warning shot that everyone really should have paid attention to.
But at least the celebrities signing over their voices and likenesses these days are actually giving their consent to be bought and sold. Dean, in contrast, was long gone by the time Allan Gray decided to use him as a corporate shill.
