Travelling into work the other day, during a break in “Morning Ireland”, I heard a sequence of clips of famous Americans giving famous quotes. There was Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you”, Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream”, and Roosevelt’s “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” To what purpose was this stirring rhetoric put? A fundraising drive for some altruistic cause? An appeal to volunteers to work in the Third World? In fact it was for an international consultancy firm. In grave tones, a voiceover told us about the importance of leadership and how this outfit could somehow help you find it. Or twaddle along those linesNow it’s one thing to ask living actors and statesmen to pimp themselves for a company. But isn’t it pushing things a little far to induct dead people who cannot object into your own campaign? (There was a similar issue when Apple began using images of people such as Einstein to promote their products. But at least they didn’t try to borrow their words as though their historical statements were in fact pitches for a firm of accountants).What’s laughable is the disconnect between the loftiness of the stolen quotations and the mundanity of the offering. And imagine if FDR had brought in a team of consultants following Pearl Harbor. They probably would have suggested a 18-month review of the strategic position vis-�-vis global challenges and opportunities before recommending a paradigmatic shift to a more flexible military posture. By that stage, the Japanese army would have reached Denver.Meanwhile, Amazon has set up “Amazon Theater“–offering “a series of five original short films available exclusively at Amazon.com as a free gift to our customers.” (That grammatical sore thumb term “free gift” seems destined to survive. And keep in mind that this “gift” is a commercial!). The film itself is pretty ropey but the product placement is done fairly subtly.