No Class Sellers Offering "tribute" Items

I see certain sellers popping up with M. Jackson so called "tribute" items on Xstreet and in world but SELLING for a profit. If they REALLY wanted to do a "tribute", they would offer those "tribute" items for FREE. MOST of these items were NOT offered before YESTERDAY and he has barely been dead 24 hours! I think sellers like this have NO class what so ever and if they need $$ THAT bad, mayyyybe they should get a REAL LIFE JOB! What a frigging CONCEPT!

Just a simple reaction: I agree.

The only legitimate way would be for example: a Farrah Fawcett tribute item with all profits going into RFL.

Simple answer. Don't buy them. If no one buys them, they will disappear soon enough.

Doesn't sound any different from the vultures that are doing the same thing in RL

I dunno. Personally I don't see anything at all wrong with it. These merchants realized that there would be a demand for a product and produced it. That's pretty smart. I don't see how their products are crass, they are clearly glorifying the one who died. Why does it matter that it is for sale now that they are dead, it wasn't an issue when they were alive? In RL the word Tribute doesn't mean free.

I have no desire to create or purchase something just because someone died. I didn't buy it before, why now? Many of you feel the same way but not everyone does. Just don't buy it if you don't want to but there is nothing illegitimate or classless or "vulturish" about selling it. That is just people taking advantage of the current state of human nature. And some people will be happy to buy it - glad that the person took the time to make it, ect.

I was going to say, I was just walking through the lunchroom at work and on the TV... someone's apparently auctioning off one of his gloves.

This afternoon the street vendors are selling Laker T-shirts for $5 and Micheal Jackson for $10. None of them are authorized products either.

Ah come on now, MJ himself didn't give his music away for free - he was no great philanthropist - why shouldn't people sell memorabilia? No one makes anyone else buy it, it's a choice. The Elvis memorabilia sells, Graceland charges an entry fee (as far as I know), and am pretty sure Althorp (where Di is buried) do too. I don't think there's anything wrong with people seeing an opportunity and taking it - it's a way of marking the importance of the deceased in our lives, and if people want to pay for that, so be it. Thier choice - if it's not yours, then just don't do it. Simple.

Would this have shocked you 2 days ago? The problem is with the psuedo fans who all of a sudden have to have this stuff when the celebrity dies, not with those that sell it. As long as there is a demand there will be a market to supply it.

I thought alot of his items were going under the hammer ,including a glove, before he died. It has happened to others before MJ will after.
To me I dont care what they sell his things for ill not be lining up to bye them now just as i would not of before

You expect this in RL and it doesn't make it RIGHT to profit off of ones death unless the money is going to the family or charity. My point being is that all or most of these people selling the items are just in it to make a few Lindens. I think it's pathetic that these people need the Lindens THAT bad. Again, if you want to pay a TRUE TRIBUTE either DONATE what you earn for sales (like THAT'S gonna happen) or offer the item for free. These sellers saw a way to make a quick buck... doesn't make it right in RL or SL and most are RIPPED textures from album covers. Isn't that a violation of TOS or trademark on it's own?

If fairly priced I do not see harm in it. A lot of people WANT such items. Fair play.

Profiteering off a man's death is pretty crass and arguably despicable; however, that is capitalism at its finest. Perhaps just as despicable are the people who snap up these "tributes" thus making the profiteering profitable. Ninety percent of these people didn't care enough about Michael Jackson two days ago to buy MJ merchandise; yet all of a sudden, they care now.

I find the thread a bit judgmental. It's human nature to want a memento, especially once one has the sense of 'never again' or 'no more.'

I'm not sure how the action of buying something reminiscent of Jackson for a video game is somehow hokey. Most likely no one would even know but the person who bought it. If it helps somebody feel better and isn't gouged in price, I don't see what's wrong in it.

I grabbed up a freebie t-shirt and glove set. I was surprised at how much I felt about his passing, and wanted something to wear in memory.

Charging for it seems very vulture like, but the freebies really do help people with mourning.

MJ was heavily in debt. If the biological mother of his kids wins custody, chances are everything the debt holders don't grab up will get sold off by her, and the kids will end up in foster care or worse at some point...

Hopefully his own family will win that one. They may be eccentric, but they're people who are used to dealing with fame. Plus they actually know the kids, and are more likely to care for them than leech from them.

He's actually given away a -LOT- to charity.

He was a philanthropist on steroids, but did it all through a few foundations such as his
heal the World organization.

Its probably one of the reasons he essentially died broke. All that glamor and seeming wealth around him was people propping him up.

On the news yesterday here in Holland, the day before MJ's death Bol.com sold 9 box sets of all MJ's songs. Yesterday they reported that had totally sold out of them. So yes people do decide to buy them for many reasons but unfortunately you will always get those that will just want to cash in on the death as all they see is the money.

I would expect to see a lot more of this RL and SL over the coming days.

:: thinks of all the profiteer cashing in on "flag" merchandise within days of the sept 11 WTC attack. ::

some folks definition of tact is "how long to wait before cashing in on someone else's loss."

Merchandising and "tribute items" (be they tacky or of high quality) aside - has anyone else noticed the sudden utter glut of "Michael Jackson Nights" being offered at clubs.

I will admit and respect that some percentage of these are a heartfelt desire on the part of the owners/managers to pay their respects to a fallen icon. But please - MJ nights at a deathrock, or goth, or industrial music club? Appropriate and heartfelt, or just a cynical ploy to grab a bit of Linden loose change in donations at an (at times) unimaginative and ill-considered Club-u-like? You decide, I know what my feeling about this is.

Incidentally, at the club with which I am involved, we did have our hour of MJ, immediately after the news broke on Thursday. It was pure, a gut reaction from the DJ on duty at the time, an honest tribute. Then we took the decision to respect, not to "cash in", and to continue along with business as normal. Those of us who were around at the time will remember the moment of his passing, but we will not behave like vultures.

The "King of Pop" is dead - he left an amazing body of musical work behind - now let's just respect his memory.

and a probably hard to sell piece of property and lots of legal history.... just saying.

I doubt that would happen. For one thing, once the debts are paid off (if the family lawyers are bright at all, they will whittle those down) the name itself is worth something in perpetuity.

Aside from money/profit motives, the man did have family and friends who seem to care enough that they wouldn't let the kids go to foster homes - we just didn't hear about those people as much. But bottom line, famous people's/millionaires' kids do not go to state-run homes.

(Actually a good example is the Presley estate - it was struggling when Elvis died, but his ex wife Priscilla turned it into an empire that dwarfed anything Elvis actually earned during his life. Hmm, Marilyn Monroe estate - same thing. The widow of Lee Strasberg ended up with the name and made millions. Licensing...licensing.)

Btw I do wonder whose idea it was to have a frail 50 yr old man attempt the Iron Man event that is a 50 concert gig across an ocean - in the age of the internet? Why not do something live on the web instead?

One concert, pay per view, world-wide - maybe a website of his own (also) with paid memberships/personal fan messages. Sit at home, rehearse at leisure, local concert, one shot, sit back and collect the green. Much less wear and tear on the actual person, I'd think? I don't get it. Was everyone around him an enabler or in denial?

Springsteen and Madonna still do the concerts they did while younger but they train like triathletes - live like them, more like. You have to, at 50, if you're going to sing/dance for hours, night after night, and not collapse.

Yeah this is pretty tasteless. One of 'em spammed my group too.

The rare part is, three days ago the only Michael Jackson-related items you could find on SL were joke avatars and masks that made fun of him. Where have all these people who loved Jackson so much been hiding all this time?

Not only in the virtual world, its happening in RL to....


If I hear another MJ song I am going to scream..... I like MJ dont get me wrong... but...