Supreme and Morrissey face issues in the new brand campaign

One of the most striking features of Supreme is the posters and t-shirts produced in collaboration with relevant brands and artists that are part of their collections.

Among many other personalities, names such as Kate Moss, Mike Tyson, Ghostface Killah, and Raekwon, members of Dipset, KRS-One, Neil Young, and even Kermit the Frog, a character from Sesame Street, have passed through Supreme's campaigns.

In October of last year, the New York-based brand invited Morrissey, former lead singer of the band The Smiths, to be the face printed on t-shirts and posters that would (and now do) form part of the new spring/summer collection. As usual, the photo shoot was conducted in the studio of Terry Richardson, the photographer responsible for a large part of the portraits used by Supreme.

After the shooting, Morrissey rejected the photos presented to him and suggested that they use one that he had taken himself, something that was unfeasible for the brand.

Three suggestions were then put on the table: a new photo shoot, at the brand's expense; Morrissey choosing one from the various photos taken during the 2 hours they were in the studio; or a full refund of the money paid to the artist for the campaign, which would be canceled.

Without an agreement, the English singer, who is also known for being a vegetarian, found out that Supreme had already made a partnership with the fast-food chain White Castle, the first fast food dedicated to hamburgers, founded in 1921, which ended up bothering him a lot and even made him regret participating in the campaign, leading him to publish an open letter through the True To You website, commenting on the case.
In response, Supreme stated their version, saying that Morrissey refuses to return the money he was paid for the work, so the agreement is still valid, which led the brand to continue with the campaign and, last week, put up the first posters bearing the image of the singer wearing a white box logo in the cities of London and Paris, followed by the official launch of the collection (15.02), bringing the same portrait printed on a t-shirt.

Without many details regarding legal issues, the end of this story does not seem to be close, as both sides have their version and neither reached a viable agreement. Stay tuned for more details and don't forget to check out the complete collection here.