Fuck You, Nissan!

I can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure Joe Strummer is turning in his grave. He's pissed and he's pissed at Nissan. You see, I finally got around to watching the "Heroes" season premiere last night and it was the Nissan show, complete with the fantastic Clash cover of Toots and the Maytals' "Pressure Drop." Don't get me wrong. I've recently made my peace with the odd product placement. (What a coincidence, Claire got a Nissan Rogue for her birthday!) They help expensive TV series defray the cost of production, thus possibly helping to keep quality programming with marginal ratings on the air. But Joe Strummer and The Clash being used to hawk an automobile? Unless the rights money went to charity, this is just wrong. The only thing worse than a sellout is a posthumous one where the artist has no say in the matter.

So...Fuck You, Nissan!

Ask Roger Catlin. he agrees with me. As does James Poniewozick in his review of the "Heroes" episode, and he phrases it brilliantly, to wit: "The Nissan Rogue commercial with the Clash version of Pressure Drop? Killed a teensy bit of my soul."

But my favorite has to be Dead Spot on the Web who in his post entitled "Well Done, Nissan" writes:
"In less than an hour, you managed to make sure that I will never, ever buy one of your cars for as long as I live. That's like some kind of land speed record, but for assholes."