Beautiful Hard Rock Cafe Ad Capitalizes on Eric Clapton’s Tragedy

We don’t really expect much out of the Hard Rock Cafe chain. Bad, overpriced food? Check. Second-tier music memorabilia? Yup. And who could forget the hippie-turned-yuppie-friendly playlist straight out of the Rolling Stone canon? But, in a story that’s been making the music-critic Twitter rounds today, Hard Rock has managed to impress us with the schlocky depths of their rock nostalgia.

As OC Weekly reports, Hard Rock’s Argentina branch has launched a theoretically cool ad campaign, in which the artists Damian Garofalo and Hugo Orita draw the comic-style stories behind classic songs like The Beatles’ “Let It Be” and Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” It seems super-weird, however, that the company signed off on the ad below, which tells the tragic story of Eric Clapton’s alcoholism and his young son’s tragic death. Not only is it generally in poor taste to capitalize on the tale of a little kid who died by falling out a window, but we have a hard time believing it will put anyone in the mood to eat an overcooked burger while Pink Floyd blares in the background, either. See the poster here.

Meanwhile, Chris Weingarten points out that “C[hris] Ware should be more pissed than Clapton” about Garofalo and Ortega ripping off his style. He’s not wrong, but we see some Adrian Tomine elements in there, too.

Filed Under:

Post comment as twitter logo facebook logo
Sort: Newest | Oldest

[...] Hard Rock Illustrates Eric Clapton's Son's DeathOC Weekly (blog) Check out the big Beatles version here and Bob Marley's here. Eric Clapton's? That's another story. It illustrates Clapton's descent into alcoholism and the death of his son…who fell out a window. And yes, there are drawings of Clapton looking out a …Hard Rock Café's "Tears in Heaven" Ad: Beautiful and AppallingSlate Magazine (blog)Beautiful Hard Rock Cafe Ad Capitalizes on Eric Clapton's TragedyFlavorwire [...]

I agree with the second rate food, and now this!! For a corporation to try and make money from a tragedy like this is just wrong! I haven't liked the HRC and now will never visit another one. It may be a small gesture but i choose where to spend my money and I will send it to Eric's Crossroads center before I ever spend another nickle there.

It's not bad enough that HRC is using this tragedy in their ad campaign, but they don't even get the facts straight. Clapton was sober when his poor little boy died, and HRC would have known this if they'd bothered to read the man's autobiography or numerous interviews from that time. He also stayed sober during the aftermath, turning instead to music and the island of Antigua. I guess their marketing department believes the story wasn't "interesting" enough so they had to sensationalize it. The only thing missing is a frame of Mr. Clapton smiling while eating one of their overpriced and overcooked burgers.

That is ridiculous! Eric Clapton actually gave the first piece of memorabilia, a fender guitar, to the first restaurant in London since he was a regular. His gift is what started the whole thing!

Trackbacks

  1. [...] Hard Rock Illustrates Eric Clapton's Son's DeathOC Weekly (blog) Check out the big Beatles version here and Bob Marley's here. Eric Clapton's? That's another story. It illustrates Clapton's descent into alcoholism and the death of his son…who fell out a window. And yes, there are drawings of Clapton looking out a …Hard Rock Café's "Tears in Heaven" Ad: Beautiful and AppallingSlate Magazine (blog)Beautiful Hard Rock Cafe Ad Capitalizes on Eric Clapton's TragedyFlavorwire [...]