Violence in vogue on bags, T-shirts

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When actress Cameron Diaz bought a purse as a tourist in China, she never expected the uproar she would face by carrying it to Peru.

Turns out the Chinese characters and red star that Miss Diaz found stylish actually translated to Mao Zedong's most famous political slogan, "Serve the People."

For many Peruvians, the bag brought up memories of the Mao-inspired Shining Path insurgency, which killed 70,000 people in the 1980s and early 1990s. The voice of Princess Fiona was forced to apologize for her faux pas.

In today's anything-goes pop cultural marketplace, T-shirts and G-strings romanticize not only political extremists such as Che Guevara, but criminals like Charles Manson and Al Pacino's Tony Montana character from the film "Scarface." Some downplay the wearing of such clothing as little more than vague and ultimately innocuous gestures of rebellion that shouldn't be taken literally. Others are offended that people are profiting off of merchandise that treats violent revolutionaries and mass murderers like rock stars.

The gear available at Imosh, a company selling heavy metal and gothic wear over the Internet, is clearly celebrating life on the wrong side of the law. Its Web site features a variety of merchandise slapped with the penetrating stare and scruffy mane of the murderous cult leader Charles Manson. The front of one T-shirt declares, "Remember Kids, Charlie Loves You" while the back reads, "Role Model for Today's Youth" ($17).

Fashion Victim, another online store, sells apparel featuring Chicago gangster Al Capone and Mexican revolutionaries Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. All of those images are a part of the public domain, so only the manufacturers profit.

In recent years, many hip-hop stars have come to idealize the rich and powerful drug dealer Tony Montana from the film "Scarface." Both the Universal Consumer Products Group — which controls the licensing of images from "Scarface" — and Mr. Pacino himself refused to comment on whether or not he receives any royalties, but industry insiders seem pretty sure the movie star profits off of Tony Montana towels and shot glasses.

The amount of money a celebrity receives from products bearing his image depends on "the experience, the reputation and the prominence of the actor," explains Greg Battersby, a lawyer who specializes in intellectual property law. "The more leverage the celebrity has, the greater percentage he'll be able to get from the merchandising."

By 1983, when "Scarface" was released, Al Pacino was already a formidable force in Hollywood, having received four Oscar nominations for best actor in the previous decade for both critically and commercially successful work in films such as "The Godfather" and "Dog Day Afternoon."

Charles Schnaid, the partner in charge of licensing and royalty services at Los Angeles firm Miller, Kaplan, Arase & Co., LLP, claims that royalty rates received by celebrities on merchandise featuring their likeness have been steadily rising over the past 10 years, with bigger stars commanding bigger paydays. While the median royalty rate in 2005 was about 11 percent, established actors like Mike Myers or Al Pacino "would probably command significantly more than someone else," guesses Mr. Schnaid. "It could be anything up to 15 percent."