Shame on Louis Vuitton

Today I read in the paper that Louis Vuitton in 2008 sued the Danish artist, Nadia Plesner, for using one of their bags on a print on a t-shirt. The print was of a dark skinned boy with a chihuahua and a Louis Vuitton bag. Known attributes of Paris Hilton and in stark contrast to the poor boy. The t-shirts were sold to raise money for children in Darfur. The Danish artist was sued by Louis Vuitton and the company wanted £10 000 a day for each day that Nadia Plesner kept on selling the t-shirts after she had information of the lawsuit. She stopped selling the t-shirts.

This January she displayed a painting, a pastisch of Picasso's Guernica. Now the Louis Vuitton bag had been joined by bags from Chanel and Hermés. Nadia Plesner got a letter from Louis Vuitton that they wanted £5 000 for each day the painting remained on display. For some reason nor Chanel or Hermés has done the same. I can fully understand that a company wants to protects his designs but it was a print on a t-shirt, a t-shirt that was sold to raise money for charity. Oh dear.

Louis Vuitton is owned by the conglomerate LVMH, a company rich beyond words. A powerful company but the ultimate power lies with the consumers. If the consumers stop buying the company is one step closer to the grave.

//P.