Though she’s been dead for 20 years, style icon Audrey Hepburn came back to life to endorse Galaxy chocolate in a U.K. commercial.
In a sequence ripped from Roman Holiday II: Less Fast, Less Furious, Hepburn is seen stuck on a bus along the Amalfi Coast in the South of Italy, a brown kerchief tied around her neck in Hepburn’s signature Roman Holiday style.
As the actual Hepburn sings “Moon River,” the CGI Hepburn makes eye contact with a handsome stranger in a convertible. He offers her a ride, she accepts, and then relaxes in the back seat with some chocolate.
The startlingly believable clone of Hepburn is a combination of effects and a body double. According to the Independent, Hepburn’s son and licensing manager, Sean Ferrer, said she would be “proud” of this spot and that she “often spoke about her love of chocolate and how it lifted her spirit.”
As technology improves, late legends are becoming more popular as spokespeople. Marilyn Monroe was not only the face of a M.A.C Cosmetics campaign last year, but appears alongside Grace Kelly and Marlene Dietrich in a Charlize Theron Dior campaign. Tupac, of course, famously performed at Coachella last year, 16 years after his death.
Although the commercial does have its charm, rewriting history by hiring the dead is a weird sales pitch for fans and stars alike. Do we really want celebrity endorsements from celebrities who didn’t even agree to pretend to like a product? Contemporary Hollywood stars should take this as a warning: be very specific about your legacy. I can just picture a future commercial where Jennifer Aniston wins Brad Pitt back from Angelina by spritzing some J’Adore.
