I think John would have supported any charity that is for a good cause. The giving of laptops to the underprivileged children would be great as long as they have the understanding of how to use it. Since this is for a third world country, the hopes of shelter, food and health should come first before the laptop. For me personally, I am not sure if I liked the video of John "speaking." It is nice to want to keep John contemporary but this TV ad is totally strange to me.

Update (12/31/08)

Update (12/29/08)

Steve,

Thanks for bringing the OLPC Lennon ad to our attention. Without doubt, it is a great cause which will benefit countless children. However there is an entirely separate issue at hand here, and that is the proverbial slippery slope. Putting words in the mouth of a deceased celebrity, no matter how noble the cause, is at the very least tacky, and at the worst immoral. We dont know where John's head would be at in 2008 and it is no one's job to make that judgment call on his behalf, not even his widow. In fact, if one listens to Lennon's last half dozen interviews or so, it is striking how moderate his social and political views had become. There was an advocating of self-sufficiency which was always there in his words, but now was being pronounced more boldly. Even there, he was ahead of his time, preaching that change isnt gonna come in the streets, but rather in our own homes, one family at a time.

But back to the issue at hand, it's not a good idea to recreate someones voice, superimposed over video that comes from a 33 year old interview. And if you really want to nip-pick (and I do..) the accent is all wrong. John's Liverpudlian cadence had all but disappeared by 1980, as he was developing a New York sound, obviously by spending so much time there. So even THAT is erroneous.

This is just one fan's opinion, but if we start attributing quotes to John Lennon that he never said, fact may become entangled with fiction, and a battle for a proper memory of this once-in-a-lifetime legend may ensue. Let's remember John for the things he did, not the things we wish he could be alive to accomplish now.

(Comment: As I said on the Examiner site, it's for a good cause. And as I've pointed out above, it's not the first time anyone has used deceased celebrities in commercials like this. Take a moment and look at the Bob Monkhouse comercial we mentioned above. I fully agree with you that putting words in one's mouth is unusual, but you also have to ask if John would have supported this cause if he were alive. I think he would have.)

Update (12/28/08)

(12/27/2008) John Lennon is featured in a new TV commercial that began airing Christmas Day for One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a nonprofit organization working to provide children in the developing world access to a computer.