Charity clone featuring Freddie Mercury (1946-1991), lead singer of the rock band Queen.
For this global series, some locations received clones with location names. Other locations, including the Online Rock Shop, received a nearly identical clone with no location name. This pin is the version with no location name.
Pin promotes the Freddie for a Week initiative, an HIV and AIDS fundraising campaign that encourages people to dress up as Mercury during the week of his birthday, September 5. Mercury died of complications from AIDS. Hard Rock hosted Freddie events in 2022 at many locations worldwide.
Mercury on pin is a laser-printed profile facing left, looking skyward and singing into a microphone. His outfit features the multicolored arrow jacket that he wore during the 1982 Hot Space Tour. The jacket is made of hundreds of silk arrows, which from a distance look like feathers. He also wears white trousers with red vertical stripes and a red belt. Under his feet is a horizontal black platform covered with multicolored glitter. At center of platform is a Hard Rock logo with brand name in white on a yellow circle with a white border.
Back of pin says "Limited Edition" and does not state quantity. Sum of quantities allocated to selling locations is 2175.
Sold on a unique black and gray backing card covered with one of Mercury's famous quotations: "I'm possessed by love, but isn't everybody?" The quotation appears 15 times on the card, horizontally or vertically, in various sizes of capital letters. At top right of card is a Hard Rock logo, and at bottom right is a replica Mercury signature, both in white. Back of card says 15% of sales will benefit the Mercury Phoenix Trust, founded by Queen and its manager to fight the battle against HIV and AIDS.
Locations that sold this clone with no location name include Amsterdam Hotel, Antwerp, Athens, Atlanta, Baltimore, Biloxi Cafe, Biloxi Hotel, Chicago Cafe, Copenhagen, Denver, Florence, Foxwoods, Glasgow, Hollywood FL Cafe, Hollywood FL Hotel, Key West, Lisbon, Madrid Cafe, Manchester, Memphis, Miami, Munich, Myrtle Beach, Nashville, New Orleans, New York Hotel, Niagara Falls USA, Nice, Online, Orlando Hotel, Philadelphia, Pigeon Forge, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, San Diego Hotel, Seattle, Seville, Washington DC and Yankee Stadium.
Base material: Antique silver appearance
Style: Painted
Back print: 4 lines
Back pattern: Hard Rock logos and diagonal guitars
Distribution method: Retail (selected locations) and online
Release date: August 26, 2022 (earliest retail location) and September 2, 2022 (online)
Original retail price: 19.50 USD (USA locations and online), 16.45 GBP (United Kingdom locations), 19.95 EUR (European locations where euro is official currency), 150 DKK (Copenhagen)
