Who Did This To The Dalai Lama?
The Dalai Lama, Iggy Pop and Karl Lagerfeld walk into… it sounds like the beginning of a cheesy joke. Or, maybe it’s the start of a humorous way to make an important point that really isn’t very funny at all. At any rate, in a recent series of campaign photos, it certainly looks like the Dalai Lama, Iggy Pop and Karl Lagerfeld ran into something.
According to a report on Yahoo! France,Amnesty International of Belgium is using images of the Dalai Lama, Iggy Pop and Karl Lagerfeld in a campaign to draw attention to and denounce acts of torture. The signs use images of the three men’s faces appearing beaten and bruised – as if they had been the victims of torture – along with humorous sayings in an apparent attempt to be funny while still drawing attention to the plight of tortured persons.
To get an idea of the sort of humor employed by the Belgian Amnesty International, the tortured Iggy Pop advertisement shows a picture of the rock superstar’s face, beaten and bruised, with the caption: “L’avenir du rock, c’est Justin Bieber.” For fans of Iggy Pop – or rock music in general – it probably isn’t necessary to translate the French to appreciate the horror in any sentence that includes the word “rock” and the name “Justin Bieber.” Just because we all love a good train wreck, though, the phrase translates to: “Justin Bieber is the future of rock.” Truly horrific and sure to make its point.
The Dalai Lama’s image is no less poignant, reading, “Un homme qui n’a pas de Rolex à 50 ans a raté sa vie,” which translates to “A man who doesn’t have a Rolex by the time he’s 50 has wasted his life.” The Dalai Lama is the head lama of the Gelug (also called “Yellow Hat”) school of Tibetan Buddhism, a system of religious belief that is not exactly known for its materialism.
Perhaps the best of the bunch is the caption associated with Karl Lagerfeld, a German fashion icon best known as the head designer for Chanel. His tortured image reads, “Sommet de l’élégance, c’est la chemise hawaïenne et les tongs.” Fashionistas will have no trouble figuring out why “The height of elegance is a Hawaiian shirt and thongs” might cause Lagerfeld, who is seldom seen without his signature shades and high collared, starched white shirts to go mad from such inhumane treatment.
The Belgian Amnesty International campaign that uses the images of the Dalai Lama, Iggy Pop and Karl Lagerfeld is called “Stop Torture,” according to a report in French publication Elle. The campaign’s slogan, printed along with the misplaced captions, reads, “Torturez un homme et il vous racontera n’importe quoi,” roughly translated to “If you torture a man, he’ll tell you anything.”
What do you think? Does the Amnesty International campaign make its point? Which one resonates with you – the Dalai Lama, Iggy Pop or Karl Lagerfeld?
[Image via Bing]
