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The Che Brand

Rebels

How the world’s most famous guerilla became a logo.

His face is on t-shirts, posters, mugs, even bikinis. That famous 1960 photograph of Che Guevara has become nothing short of a post-modern icon, the Mona Lisa of Latin America. In his new book, Che’s Afterlife, Michael Casey offers a cultural history of the pervasive image. Despite Che’s controversial legacy, Casey argues, his image represents resistance and idealism—he’s the ultimate underdog. Writes Michiko Kakutani in a glowing review of the book: “Che went from being a symbol of resistance to the capitalist system to one of the most marketable and marketed brands around the globe.”

Read it at The New York Times