The A-Team and Cultural Icons

As June nears, and with it, the opening of the new A-Team movie, i have to wonder about how these movie remakes of retro classics are going to affect the icons that represent these classics.

Wow, a mouthful!

Let me rephrase.

Are all the B.A. Baracus t-shirts out there going to start having Rampage on them, instead of Mr. T? Will Dirk Benedict fade into anonymity as Bradley Cooper becomes the new “Face” for the A-Team?

I’ve wondered this before with other remakes. We’ve seen just about every good American TV show re-envisioned and re-made into a movie recently. All the classics from my youth, anyway. Dukes of Hazard, Starsky & Hutch, Get Smart. Heck, even Transformers.

However, for all these other remakes, the icons tended to be items, not people. At least in the t-shirt world. Few people want to wear a shirt with Bo and Luke Duke on it. But, the General Lee, heck ya! Same with Starsky’s car. Same with Optimus Prime.

And, sure, the A-Team has their trademark black van. But, Mr. T is a different story. He’s an icon. His image depicted A-Team tshirts and memorabilia far more than any other logo, including the A-Team bullethole-laden logo.
Will this change?

I would think that 4 and a half years of devoted work to build up the classic TV series would over-ride one movie’s worth of hype. But, who knows the power of Hollywood’s promotional budget?

Here at Channel Shirt, the A-Team t-shirts have been some of our best-selling TV shirts, long before the movie was announced. Mr. T continues to be a hot item even 25 years after his fame in the show. So, I’m curious to see…. in June, will we be selling Mr. T Shirts or Rampage shirts?

Dave

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