Commercials: Bob Dylan and Victoria Secret

Here is the add if you do not know it.



This is an old subject but a fun one I think: A few years ago Bob Dylan appeared in a Victoria Secret add. There were two main reactions. One: Bob Dylan sold out. This is sometimes followed by an admission that this is at least a fun way to sell out -- from Dylan's point of view it is not hard to see the appeal of being around sexy women. But the second reaction looked from the other direction: what -- you know -- ON EARTH would make Victoria Secret want the aged Dylan in their sexy women underwear commercial?

The answer is, as a memento mori, a reminder of death. Dylan aged dramatically, and looks like a skull. The music is cool, but the juxtaposition of Dylan's face with the bodies of the models suggests -- hey, better look sexy now, because death is coming for you and he might look a lot like Bob Dylan. Carpe Diem.