"Obviously, we are in the same position as Courtney Love, as well as the Estates of the others depicted [in the ad]," said Mickey Leigh. "We were never consulted about this ad. We were never asked for permission to use Joey's image, or paid for the use of it. As executor of my brother's estate I never would have approved this ad as Joey never wore these shoes. And, not that my brother was terribly religious, but the fact that he was Jewish, and this ad is not exactly Kosher, makes it that much more inappropriate, inconsiderate and contemptible."

Such guilt! Of course, at this point, everyone responsible has been taken to task: Dr Martens fired Saatchi and Saatchi—the agency that created the campaign—late last week, and the person responsible for leaking the images has been sentenced to five years of polishing Love's Oxblood-red boots, which she stole from Michael Stipe after a 1986 R.E.M. show at Brixton Academy.

Ramones join Kurt Cobain advert row [NME]

Full release after the jump.

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION

DR. MARTENS REGRETS THE USE OF UNAUTHORISED IMAGES

Dr Martens is very sorry for any offense that has been caused by the publication of images showing dead rock icons wearing Dr Martens boots.

Dr Martens did not commission the work as it runs counter to our current marketing activities based on FREEDM, which is dedicated to nurturing grass roots creativity and supporting emerging talent.

As a consequence, Dr Martens has terminated its relationship with the responsible agency.

David Suddens
Chief Executive

Exclusive: Dr. Martens to Saatchi: You're Fired! [The Daily Swarm]

"Courtney had no idea this was taking place and would never have approved such a use," her rep tells PEOPLE. "She thinks it's outrageous that a company is allowed to commercially gain from such a despicable use of her husband's picture."

Especially since—according to British copyright law—she's not entitled to any money from the picture! Clearly, the only way to rectify this is to sell another track to another video game.

Courtney Love Says Shoe Ads With Kurt Are 'Outrageous' [People]
Earlier: Today In Repurposed Images Of Dead Celebrities: Kurt Cobain, Doc Marten-Wearing Angel

Saatchi & Saatchi/London has a new print/poster campaign in the U.K. that cleverly employs four dead rock stars - Kurt Cobain, Sid Vicious, Joey Ramone and Joe Strummer - as Doc Martens endorsers. "We wanted to communicate that Dr. Martens boots are 'made to last,' " explains writer Andrew Petch, "and we discovered that these idolized musicians wore them. Showing them still wearing their Docs in heaven dramatized the boots' durability perfectly. And, as images, they feel very iconic."

"Made to last"? But all those stars are...oh, forget it. An ad campaign that implies that heaven would let in steel-toed shoes is probably not supposed to make sense, anyway.

Tasteless [The Daily Swarm]