Are you OK about OK! paying $500,000 for Michael Jackson’s “Death Photo?”
Aptly as the headline asks, how do you feel about tabloid magazine OK! paying $500,000 for the exclusive rights to use a photo some are calling the “Michael Jackson death photo” on both national and international editions?
“Sarah Ivens, OK!’s editorial director, said she thought the photo of the dying Jackson would differentiate the title from the rash of tribute-style covers that have begun hitting newsstands this week.
“It’s a photo that captures the surprise and the upset and the moment of this breaking news story,” Ivens said. “I hope the cover will provoke readers. It celebrated the man, but it also does expose that he was an eccentric character who lived a very controversial life.”
One commenter on PDN was disappointed with the spending given the recent downsizing in the downturn economy, others found it disgraceful and disrespectful, while one admitted to the voyeuristic desire to see everything “warts and all.”
What do you think?
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That’s what is wrong with America. Were on the road to a major depression and we have magazines paying 500K for disgusting pictures.
Good question, very good question.
Actually, it seems to me that in some ways it’s really two questions:
– is $500,000 an excessive fee for any photograph in today’s economy?
– is a “death photo” excessively intrusive or in exceptionally bad taste, even for a public figure?
I’m sure the editors at OK! would say let the marketplace be the arbiter — does their cover show a bigger “Michael Jackson bump” than their competitors?
I have no regard for Mr. Jackson after about age 16, but I wonder about the ethics and identity of *whomever* took the photo. If a med tech with a camera phone, I would be appalled. If a member of his staff, I would hope the surviving Jackson family would immediately fire him/her and sue for damages.
The “death photo” or earlier the “death mask” reminds me of outlaws and dead presidents. Mr. Jackson was neither.
I’ve seen people take photos of dead folks during wakes. Why? The person who was once there is gone.