And You Thought U.S. Copyright Was Bad

Today’s NY Times has an interesting article on cultural appropriation and sex. Mexico’s National Institute for Anthropology and History had a problem with advertising images of a famous Mexican actress, Irán Castillo, “wearing” Mexican cultural icons on her “curvaceous” nude body. The cultural icons were digitally tattooed on her body and were meant to arouse touristic interest in the Mexican state of Hidalgo.

(Ms. Castillo without Mexican heritage tattoos. Please note: the chair is not a Toltec sculpture)

“Whether it was the stone Atlantes in Tula de Allende or the old aqueduct in Padre Tembleque or the former convent in San Nicolás Tolentino, imprinting one of Mexico’s treasures on a soap opera star was deemed a violation of the law.” Added the NY Times: [Mexico’s] “anthropology institute, based in Mexico City, does more than just serve as Mexico’s monument police. It oversees a vast collection of pyramids, shrines and other attractions, all more than a century old. With 800 researchers, the institute churns out academic treatises that seek to make sense of the country’s past. It also rejects anything seen as exploiting a historical artifact’s dignity.”