Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/01/26

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Subject: [Leica] Great Moments in the History of Communism
From: douglas.sharp at gmx.de (Douglas Sharp)
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:34:37 +0100
References: <C78416B9.5C8E9%mark@rabinergroup.com>

The fact that Leica manufactures a special edition like this is not, at 
the base of it, a Leica policy decision.

There's no committee at Leica that says "let's make a 60th Anniversary 
China Special and hope that it sells" (the Brunei, Oresund Bridge, and 
many others were private initiatives - BTW, the Flag cameras were a 
purely Leica idea and flopped).

Leica is requested by individuals, I think, in this case almost 
certainly the Leica Rep. in Singapore, to create a special edition 
limited exclusively for the Chinese market to meet a certain market 
demand. This in no way reflects the politics at Leica, although many may 
see the occasion being celebrated as not particularly PC.

On the other hand, heated discussion - for example, people cynically 
wondering whether the next commemorative Leica will be celebrating 
Hitler's birthday -  gets Leica in the public eye and creates increased 
awareness of the brand.

Douglas

BTW: How about a few more special editions to get opinions boiling:

Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Salvador Allende, Robert Mugabe, Idi Amin, 
Gaddafi, Maggie Thatcher, Ho Chi Minh...

And, when Leica finally goes bust for lack of demand for special 
editions, the sinking of the Bismarck or the Titanic.




On 26.01.2010 09:49, Mark Rabiner wrote:
>> Geoff, what some people found ironic is the commemoration by a Western 
>> company
>> of a Communist takeover 60 years ago and the implied glorification of the
>> tyranny that followed. Nobody is saying that Leica should not sell its
>> products in countries with nasty governments like China or Russia, but 
>> some of
>> us do not like the further step of issuing commemorative editions to 
>> glorify
>> those regimes.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Nathan
>>      
>
> You're not saying but you are saying it.
> This is why politics is not recommended on the LUG.
> Actually I'm not sure but I believe its not permitted.
> It quickly leads to off center off based stuff like this.
> It would be so great to not have to be exposed to the politics of my camera
> email people. It would be so great to just not know. I'd rather be exposed
> to their ground breaking stance on UV filter use or do they think  "film is
> dead". Or other inanities that might actually have something to so with
> photography but more the the point NOT reactionary politics.
>
> [Rabs]
> Mark William Rabiner
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>    


Replies: Reply from ricc at embarqmail.com (Ric Carter) ([Leica] Great Moments in the History of Communism)
In reply to: Message from mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner) ([Leica] Great Moments in the History of Communism)