Last week I shared some disturbing McDonalds ads that I found in Argentina in addition to a clip of a faux Marilyn Monroe also endorsing the Golden Arches. Compared to some dead celebrity-employed marketing, though, that’s relatively innocent. A black and white photo with a badly inserted color cheeseburger? Even Marlon Brando would have been fine with that unbelievable campaign. As for the Marilyn commercial, I’ve seen some people comment on YouTube that they didn’t know she did a McDonalds ad. But aside from inadvertently confusing some idiots, having an impersonator hawk products isn’t too unethical.

This 2005 Volkswagon ad is a little more questionable, as it superimposes the face of Gene Kelly (d. 1996) on the bodies of breakdancers outfitted to look like his character in Singin’ in the Rain. I’d say it’s despicable or blasphemous but I have to admit to having enjoyed it when I first saw it. And the remix of the movie’s titular tune is also appreciable. Also, its painstaking recreation of the iconic scene is to be respected, especially because it doesn’t simply pull some archive footage or photograph of a dead actor and randomly plop it into an advertisement, like the John Wayne Coors spot.

From Fred Astaire dancing with a Dirt Devil vacuum to Audrey Hepburn dancing for Gap (or riding a bike for Kirin ice tea) to child star Heather O’Rourke peddling DirecTV, there’s been so many controversial employments of dead people in advertising. It makes me wonder what Heath Ledger will be hawking in ten years.