Diesel clothing did a photo shoot at the Brooklyn Law Library and the New York Transit Museum. The photos have been categorized as "racy" and "shocking". Diesel paid for the use of the Transit Museum space, and the museum was closed to the public during the shoot. Is the payment for the space enough to give Diesel carte blanche to create whatever type of photos they wanted? Is the money worth the possible hit to the museum's reputation?
Where do I begin?!? I definitely do not think that paying for the rental of the museum should allow Diesel to do whatever they like. First, as you mention, it tarnishes the reputation of the museum. This is not only because of the nature of the photos, but they mere fact that it seems like the staff is willing to "sell out" for just about anything. I absolutely understand that museums must resort to less than ideal tactics to raise money, but really, designer clothing photo shoots? There can't be anything in the museum's mission statement that supports this practice.
ReplyDeleteI went to the Diesel website and saw some photos I am presuming to be from this shoot. I was fairly horrified and I'm not even a very conservative person! What I really wonder is whether any museum staff members were present during the shoot and whether they tried to stop or redirect the shoot.
I guess it doesn't really bother me, but I can see how it would upset some. Having worked in magazines and publishing for about 4 years though, the museum and library probably should have had someone there though, or at least asked to review the photos before they were published. The content and location of the museum/library are their intellectual properties, so they need to take the appropriate steps to ensure that those properties are respected. It's actually sort of surprising to me that neither institution asked to see the images before they were published, especially since they were for underwear ads. I guess it's a lesson learned though.
ReplyDelete