Best Buy nixes in-store Heath Ledger shrine
US retail giant Best Buy has apologised to Heath Ledger's family and fans after one of the firm’s employees erected a makeshift movie display in memory of the Brokeback Mountain star. Just a day after the world learned of the sudden death of the Australian actor, who was found dead in his New York apartment earlier this week, a …
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HMV
One could argue our very own HMV are doing the same
http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/navigate.do?ctx=1000;-1;-1;-1&pPageID=3063&WT.ac=A_WEBSITE_HOME_PAGE_MAG-RHTMN-HeathLedger_Side-Heath+Ledger
Business is business I guess.
But death sells...
...as my mother once told me, some of the best sellers in her shop are books about people who've died recently...
Bad taste? Maybe. Human Nature? Probably. Good business sense? Definitely.
Ian Curtis
As the late great allegedly Anthony H Wilson said "Ian Curtis's death was the best thing that happened to Factory Records"
@Jeremy
Sad but true, just think how many crucifixes are sold every year. Sick fucks.
common occurrence
Whenever someone famous dies, like a musician, you always see their albums/films/books shoved to the prominent positions in the high street stores in the days following it.
Just look at how many Pavarotti records sold once he popped his clogs. Demand soars as the news of their death suddenly puts that person's name to the forefront of people's minds.
Happens all the time
Not just books, CDs or DVDs - what about "tribute" shows and special showings of films/TV programmes on the telly?
Then, in the months and years following, boxed sets, compilation albums, remixes, remasters....
No wonder these people end up richer dead than alive.
re:Ian Curtis
"alledgedly Anthony H Wilson"?
that's a great line. :)
Simpsons
just like the episode when "Bleeding gums" Murphy dies.
How much is his album?
$250
But I want it to hoour his memory
He's dead, why didn't you say so....$500
True, true
It's absolutely true that death sells, probably far better than sex sells in fact, however it's normally the public who go and find whatever it is they want from the celeb/artist following their demise (albeit with a *little* "help" from the marketeers) rather than bending to what could be seen as completely un-subtle, distasteful attempts by companies to shove their stock onto customers.
The "staffer" probably was a fan of Ledger but should have kept the tribute to the confines of their own home/DVD player as opposed to using their position within a company to say what customers *will* want to do so brazenly with a sign and everything...
Kurt Cobain
I remember after the suicide of Kurt Cobain wandering into my local HMV to see huge displays of everything to do with Nirvana.
I spoke to the store manager and even a couple of people at their head office and they were frankly astounded that anyone could think that their attempts to sell product were anything less than the best possible taste.
<Kenny Everett/Cupid Stunt leg swing>
Reverse psychology?
Maybe Best Buy told the staffer to build the shrine just so they could dismantle it and receive some publicity for "doing the right thing." Perhaps someone hearing that Best Buy doesn't want to profit from his death in bad taste will then shop at Best Buy because they are not an evil corporation (today anyway). Paranoid? Maybe, but it doesn't mean everyones not out to get me.
HMV website too
I also found the HMV website in bad taste, blatantly attempting to cash in on this tragic death. After a small tribute to Heath Ledger they have kindly compiled a list of his films for sale. Shame on you HMV!
@Question
HD-DVD, as that's a dead format apparently.
I'm sooo sooo very sorry.
Hm...
"One could easily view this as an attempt to profit from Mr. Ledger's death"
Which it surely was. And hoping to get a promotion out of it when the cunning plan generated a lot of sales, I'd suspect. And so what? That's what they all do all the time... Maybe in slightly subtler ways, which does not change anything.
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