Day of the Dead™

Growing up, Halloween was an altogether wonderful day.

It’s general wonderfulness was compounded by the fact that, as parochial-schoolers, we got the next day off to celebrate All Saints Day. As the Baltimore II Catechism informed, this was a “Holy Day of Obligation in the United States”. Which meant we had to go to Mass in the morning. Oh, yawn… But after that, you were free for the day.

Having a day off of school was excellent enough to begin with, but to be able to lord it over public school students…Bonus points.

However much my culture relished death and dying, and as exceedingly thorough as our nuns and priests were in impressing upon the young that our mortal lives were short, finite, expendable, and nothing but a prelude to immortality in The Great Beyond,’ there was never a lot of hoo-hah around All Saints Day. Nor for the runner-up day after (and non-Holy Day of Obligation), All Souls Day, which was dedicated to the masses who would never make sainthood. Just a couple of reminders that we should “think of the dead”. (As if we needed any reminders, given that death was pretty much incessantly harped on as a matter of course.)

But it wasn’t a big cemetery visiting day, perhaps because the early November weather in New England (or in Ireland, from whence our death-reveling antecedents came) was not conducive to a cemetery jaunt.

In any case, unlike the Mexicans, we did not do All Saints and All Souls Days up big.

But for the Mexicans, Dia de los Muertos has always been a pretty big deal.

The Day of the Dead honors departed souls of loved ones who are welcomed back for a few intimate hours. At burial sites or intricately built altars, photos of loved ones are centered on skeleton figurines, bright decorations, candles, candy and other offerings such as the favorite foods of the departed. Pre-Columbian in origin, many of the themes and rituals are mixtures of indigenous practices and Roman Catholicism. (Source: Huffington Post.)

Somewhere along the folk-arty line, Day of the Dead became, if not widely celebrated outside of Mexico, then at least widely known. I mean, who doesn’t have at least one bit of Day of the Dead kitsch in their possession?

Personally, I am the owner of a tiny little skeleton wonking away at a computer, a set of colorful plaster Day of the Dead band members that are on a shelf in the downstairs bathroom, and Christmas ornament of a skeleton angel in a bright blue angel gown.

Anyway, Disney-Pixar recently caused a bit of a ruckus when, in anticipation of a movie of the same name, they tried to trademark “Dia de los Muertos.”

A blogger at OC Weekly, dug into Disney’s application and found that they wanted to make sure that nothing escaped their grasp. Their mark was:

*For "Fruit preserves; fruit-based snack foods; eggs; jams; jellies; potato chips; nuts; dairy products; meat; poultry; fruits; vegetables; prepared or packaged meals consisting primarily of meat, fish, poultry or vegetables"

In the world of greed and branding, much of this makes sense (potato chips), but Day of the Dead fruits? Vegetables? Day of the Dead eggs? This seems a bit Day of the Dead nuts, but I don’t have the world’s most refined branding sense, that’s for sure:

*For "Toys, games and playthings; gymnastic and sporting articles (except clothing); hand-held units for playing electronic games for use with or without an external display screen or monitor; Christmas stockings; Christmas tree ornaments and decorations; snow globes"

*For "Clothing, footwear and headwear"

*For "Bags; backpacks; calling card cases; coin purses; fanny packs; key cases; key chains; luggage; luggage tags; purses; umbrellas; wallets"

Calling card cases? How quaint. How ever did they leave out snuff pouches and reticules.

I’m happy to see that fanny packs did make the list, since they are, more or less, the reticule of the sort of middle-aged women prone to sporting oversized Tigger sweatshirts. (All Disney, all the time.)

*For "Paper and paper articles; cardboard and cardboard articles; printed matter; publications; books; photographs; portraits; paintings; stationery; office and school supplies"

*For "Clocks; jewelry; jewelry boxes; jewelry cases; key rings of precious metal; coins; watches; watch bands"

*For "Apparatus for recording, transmission or reproduction of sound or images; audio books; audio recordings; audio and visual recordings; video game software; computer programs and software; consumer electronics and accessories therefor; eyeglasses and sunglasses and accessories therefor; binoculars; decorative magnets; graduated rulers"

*For "Cosmetics; dentifrices; non-medicated toiletries; fragrances; perfumes"

Dentifrices? Why am I channeling the Pepsodent parody of my childhood:

You’ll wonder where your teeth have gone, when you brush your teeth with an atom bomb?*

And nothing says ‘come ona my house’ like Day of the Dead perfume, no? A delicate mixture of humus and rotted cloth, enhancing the underlying scent of decayed flesh…

*Confectionery and chewing gum; breakfast cereals and preparations made from cereals; cereal bars; bread; muffins; muffin bars; pastry; waffles; pancakes; cookies; crackers; biscuits; popcorn; corn chips; pretzels; puddings; coffee; tea; cocoa; sugar; rice; flour; ices; ice; honey; condiments; sauces; spices; pizza; pasta and noodles; macaroni and cheese; frozen meals consisting primarily of pasta or rice; staple foods

Ice! Ice? Who brands ice? Other than Brookline Ice and Coal Company, I mean.

One has to admire Disney’s (over) reach, that’s for sure.

But in this case, their reach exceeded their grasp, and the Disney backlash painted the company as not just greedy, but as insensitive culture vultures, preying on both cultures and, potentially, on crafts-people who make things like skeleton Christmas ornaments. Not to mention the small businesses that are no doubt out there already selling Day of the Dead dentifrices, poultry, and ice.

After a social media protest, Disney backed down and indicated that they would be renaming their Pixar adventure, which will no doubt have plenty of cute and cuddly lil’ skeleton characters every bit as lovable and merchandisable – one and the same in Disney-Land, of course – as Woody, Nemo, and Shrek.

The online protest was led by Latinos, including Mexican-American cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz, who wrote:

"On the offensiveness scale, it seems awful and crass, as the words 'Dia de Los Muertos' aren't just some brand name but a holiday."  (Source: Guardian-UK.)

But Alcaraz did more than write, he cartooned, and Disney backed off.

Disney later issued a statement suggesting it had been decided to change the title of the film, and would therefore no longer be pursuing efforts to trademark the term. (Source: Guardian-UK.)

Anyway, we have been spared. We will not have to worry about whether we’re buying authentic Dias de los Muertos merch: frozen foods, watches, or fanny packs. We will not have to worry about Dias de los Muertos vendors having to lawyer up to defend their hand-crafted Christmas ornaments against the suits from Disney.

Viva la Social Media!

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*The original jingle:

You’ll wonder where the yellow went, when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent.