“After Guevara was killed in 1967, and following ‘Cuba’s very unrevolutionary submission to Soviet dominance,’ his iconic image gave Cuba a ‘Pop Art makover. The now-ubiquitous Che brand was born,’ and Castro, says Michael Casey, wrapped himself in it.
“Che’s image made a branding comeback
“Today, Che’s image has been enlisted in Cuba’s P.R. campaign for its health-care system, with some 200 Cuban medics recently celebrated by Bolivian officials ‘as model revolutionaries — guerillas with stethoscopes instead of rifles. And in case the branding tie-in wasn’t clear, each medic was dressed in a white lab coat opened to reveal a red or blue Che T-shirt.'”
