Inside Gucci’s Gen Z bet on avatars – the latest chapter in luxury’s digital epiphany
I mean no-one. wants to sue their parents, but really! Signing me up with brand in-vitro? Fine. They picked a good brand at the time. See me through school and University. A couple of years as IRL ambassador, OK. But there was the avatar clause. My social presence would in perpetuity be branded with… well I can’t even bring myself to say the name (or should that be ‘lame’?) I have my own brand to build and being saddled with an avatar dressed like that; talking like that; interacting like that! Well how do you think I feel… your honour?
I mean what were they thinking? How could they be SO stupid? Didn’t they think ahead? My lawyers will probably put it better in court but really!
OK getting sponsorship for me was smart. Kids aren’t cheap and signing me up with brand in-vitro was a good hedge. They picked a good brand at the time. Safe, solid, they’d see me through school and University. A couple of years as IRL ambassador, fine. Some real-world experiential in the Uni bar and then the workplace, all good. But of course there was the avatar clause. My social media presence would in perpetuity be branded with… well I can’t even bring myself to say the name (or should that be ‘lame’?) When I was in school, fine. The brand still had some kudos and even when that began to fade, well I was a kid. But I’m not now. I have my own brand to build and to be saddled with an avatar dressed like that; talking like that; interacting like that! Well how do you think I feel… yer honour!
My avatar is as much a part of me as my body. The contract my parents signed released my body from brand servitude after a certain number of years but left my avatar behind. Still the brand’s property. I did the work for them, as a kid, a student and an intern. They got their money’s worth. But. now I am free, but. my avatar isn’t. What am I supposed to do, not have an avatar out. there? How do I function without one, judge?
I mean no-one. wants to sue their parents, but really!