Michelle makes cover of Vogue as Barack hawks iPhones

by Staff, Brand Republic 12-Feb-09, 09:00

LONDON - The US president and first lady have been quick to show their brand affinity, whether with permission -- Michelle Obama's new Vogue covershoot, or without -- Barack Obama's image used to sell iPhones in Japan.

A Japanese culture blogger for tech website Boing Boing stumbled across an advertisement for Japanese mobile network Softbank, which is using a photograph of Obama to sell iPhones, with the tagline "Yes We Kau!"-- "kau" meaning "buy" in Japanese.

Michelle Obama appears on the cover of Vogue magazine March 2009

Stateside, Michelle Obama's Vogue magazine covershoot was leaked on the internet yesterday.

Shot by famed-photographer Anne Leibovitz, the coveted cover spot features a relaxed, confident shot of the first lady wearing simple jewellery and a pink dress by Taiwanese designer Jason Wu, who also handled the first lady's inauguration wardrobe.

Michelle Obama is the second first lady to appear on the cover of Vogue -- Hillary Clinton beat her to the punch in 1998 following then-president Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinski scandal.

The March issue of Vogue is set to hit US newsstands today.