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A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, Darth Vader destroyed whole planets with the flip of a switch. Nowadays, he’s lucky if he can sell you some batteries in 30 seconds.
UK blogger Retina Burn’s new video, “Darth Vader: The Corporate Lapdog,” touches on the sad evolution of the Star Wars villain, from science-fiction icon to advertising gimmick.
At a little over two minutes long, the video is a compilation of at least 15 advertisements Vader has appeared in over the years, set to the tune of the Imperial March. (The video currently has less than 1,000 views.)
An accompanying blog post explained that the “Vader reel” was created out of Retina Burn author Ryan Stone’s “frustration” with UK-based conglomerate Dixons Retail’s “ongoing licensing agreement” with LucasFilms.
“It seems a little repugnant to use a fictional cinematic character to endorse products, and … it feels like a collision between art and commercialism,” Stone wrote.
Using Darth Vader in such a way reduces him from a piece of art, he argued, from a “creative process to a mere corporate mouthpiece. Essentially, the character is torn from the fantasy realm, and thrust in to the real world, now just a commodity like those it is trying to sell.”
The “humorous approach” used in these ads “undermines” Vader’s once-fearsome persona, Stone added.
At least ads aren’t appearing on Imperial Star Destroyers. Yet.
