Although I hadn’t been born during Marilyn Monroe‘s era, I find her image is still everywhere and I love her. Everybody loves her apparently and that’s the reason why she keeps being alive. This time she is even reborn into a huge brand.
“Authentic Brands Group and media company Neca Inc are buying Marilyn Monroe LLC [Limited Liability Company] from the late star’s estate,” Jamie Salter of Authentic Brands Group said according to Bloomberg. “Anna Strasberg, who is the administrator of the estate, will be a minority partner in the venture, which will control, among other things, the actress’s name and images of her lips and eyes,” Salter said. National Post revealed that Anna Strasberg is wife of Ms. Monroe’s former acting coach and now administrator of her estate.
Authentic Brands plans to sell makeup, lingerie, handbag and other products with Marilyn Monroe’s name and also creating a reality show. To explain further about the reality show, it is being proposed and will be titled “Who Is The Next Face of Marilyn”. The show will be a contest looking for Marilyn Monroe brand’s representatives.
In WWD, Salter said that “Marilyn Monroe is recognized around the world as the embodiment of beauty and glamour. Quite simply, her name and her image have timeless appeal. We feel fortunate to be responsible for the future long-term success of the Marilyn Monroe brand,”
“Over the past 20 years, 1,975 deals for Marilyn Monroe have been signed, ranging from intimate apparel to wine, and, in the past year alone, some 140 deals have been signed. Today, there are about 54 live deals worldwide. Some of these are short-term deals and non-exclusives,” he continued.
While Salter’s partner, Joel Weinshanker, president and chief operating officer of Neca. “There always used to be a wall between a movie star and a fan, between a musician and a fan. In the 21st century, that wall’s disappeared.” Monroe’s Facebook fan page has about 355,400 friends and features film clips. The two dealmakers plan to devote part of the Marilyn advertising budget to Facebook.
Even though the world is going to see more numerous products that carry Marilyn Monroe’s name, that doesn’t mean it will make everyone happy. Refinery 29 stated “Though we’re interested to see the quality and marketing of the products, we can’t help but feel a bit sad that one of our fave movie stars and style inspiration is being—dare we say it—exploited like this. Though maybe this way Marilyn will be able to make the world just a little more glam”.
Seems like there’s always going to be some kind of controversy surrounding this legend.
How about you? Do you think she’s being exploited or you’re excited to see what her “brand” is going to be like?
Sources: bloomberg.com, wwd.com, marilynmonroe.com, refinery29.com, nationalpost.com
