Courtney Love has spent over a decade trying to gradually edge out of Kurt Cobain's shadow, but that was hardly likely to happen when all the while Kurt Cobain was prancing about on a cloud in heaven in a pair of lovely Doc Martens, was it?

A set of adverts featuring an image of Kurt Cobain looking a bit glum in heaven wearing Doc Martens has enraged his widow Courtney Love, who is understandably upset that there are pictures around of her husband flogging overrated goth shoes. But, after a monumental PR snafu, Doc Martens has backed down and withdrawn all the adverts from circulation. It wasn't so much that nobody asked for her approval, Courtney Love says, more that the picture in the advert is inaccurate – after all, if Kurt Cobain did go to heaven his face would be blown apart with a shotgun wound, not all intact like the advert says it would be.

Right now, Courtney Love is doing her best to salvage her life. Dramas like her massive drug addiction, the stomach-churning sex she had with Alan Partridge and the non-event that was her American Idol judging spot have been put behind her – and Courtney has even managed to reconcile herself with horrors like a friendship with Mel Gibson and being too crap for even online dating – and now things are on the up thanks, in part, to Kurt Cobain.

Kurt Cobain is now the richest dead celebrity in town after Courtney Love sold a quarter of his songwriting publishing for $50 million last year, and that money will be topped up with whatever Courtney Love can make from her upcoming auction of Kurt Cobain's old crap, so it won't matter when nobody at all buys the new Courtney Love solo album because she is loaded thanks to a miserable guitarist's stuff.

But just because her life is sorted out and she's minted, it doesn't mean that Courtney Love is able to let go of Kurt Cobain completely, at least not when shoemakers keep putting photos of him in heaven wearing their gear all over the place, like Doc Martens has been doing.

Doc Martens' new UK print advertisements feature all sorts of iconic musicians like Joe Strummer, Sid Vicious, Joey Ramone and Kurt Cobain up in heaven still wearing Doc Martens boots alongside the tagline 'Dr Martens. Forever.' The points this ad campaign were clear – not only are Doc Martens as iconic as the people who wore them but also they're so tough that they'll outlast lymphoma, undiagnosed congenital heart defects, girlfriend murders followed by large heroin overdoses and, in Kurt Cobain's case, gigantic shotgun-based suicides. We don't know about you, but we'd quite like a pair now.

Weirdly enough, when Courtney Love heard about these Cobain shoe adverts, she flipped out so much that Doc Martens pulled the campaign. E! Online reports:

"Dr. Martens is very sorry for any offense that has been caused by the publication of images showing dead rock icons wearing Dr. Martens boots," the company said in a statement to E! Online. "Dr. Martens did not commission the work as it runs counter to our current marketing activities based on FREEDM, which is dedicated to nurturing grass roots creativity and supporting emerging talent. As a consequence, Dr Martens has terminated its relationship with the responsible agency."

However, the agency behind the adverts – Saachi & Saachi – claims that the campaign was "edgy but not offensive" and that the pictures of Kurt Cobain were purchased legally. Also, British law doesn't require estates to approve image use of dead celebrities, which might stamp out any lawsuit thoughts that Courtney Love may have been having.

Still, the thought of a company using an iconic musician's likeness to market a soulless commodity is incredibly tasteless, and Courtney Love has every right to be upset. We are too – we almost choked on our can of delicious Jimi Hendrix Liquid Experience when we heard about it.

Read more:

Love Kicks Cobain's Shoe Ad To The Curb – E! Online