Our friend, Wah of Club Wah infamy, reckons anyone who wears a Che Guevara t-shirt is a, well, a very annoying person. It was also a hilarious post because it drew some angry comments from Che fans, in particular this one which still makes me giggle:

If I could I would teach you a lesson and made you a “cunt” , and use you to satisfy my sexual needs! you a.. hole! Che Guevara was a big man ! not like you> a insignificant capitalist worm!
shut your sewage “canal”-mouth! It kind of stinks!

So it was with some smirking and reminiscing on my part just now when I read this whole list of Che-branded stuff:

…T-shirts, watches, sneakers, key chains, cigarette lighters, coffee mugs, wallets, backpacks, mouse pads, beach towels and condoms. He’s not only been used by politicians like the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, to promote their own agendas, but he’s also been employed by merchants to sell air fresheners in Peru, snowboards in Switzerland and wine in Italy.

The supermodel Gisele Bündchen pranced down a runway in a Che bikini. A men’s wear company brought out a Che action figure, complete with fatigues, a beret, a gun and a cigar. And an Australian company produced a “cherry Guevara” ice cream line, describing the eating experience like this: “The revolutionary struggle of the cherries was squashed as they were trapped between two layers of chocolate. May their memory live on in your mouth!”

There’s something oddly perverse about cherries and the memory living on in your mouth, but I can’t quite pin-point what it is.

Anyway. Go, comrades Che and Wah!