Thursday, August 13, 2009

A T-Shirt in a Tree? Genius and Tacky.

I don't know if you know this, but Michael Jackson died. Yes, it was sudden and tragic and sad. It was also opportunistic for those so inclined. One of those people was a guy down the street from us. Well, really down the street, left, DOWN the street and on the right. Meaning: not in our neighborhood but over THERE.* This guy jumped on the MJ bandwagon almost immediately following his death and whipped up a bunch of T-shirts to sell. He sold them in front of his house.

Between two trees.

That's right. One clothesline, two nails and THOUSANDS of tshirts later and he was in business. That's right - thousands. You know how I know this? He is STILL selling those tshirts.

It has been 49 days since MJ died. A month and a half. He is STILL selling those tshirts. Well, actually, the proper wording would be he is still offering them for sale. No one is buying that I can tell. You see, the peak time has come and gone. Now it is just getting sad.

I noticed him that first week of MJ's death. It was 11 pm at night. I couldn't even see what was on the frickin' tshirts it was so dark. That did not stop people from pulling over on the side of the road and buying them. His business was on FIRE**.

49 days later? Not so much. B told me there was even a writeup in the paper about this guy. Hell, that was 39 days ago. Anyway, the writer indicated that the guy, fancying himself an entrepreneur, overestimated his market. You think? Actually I think the writer underestimated that statement.

Now, even the quality of tshirts is dwindling. They were never that great (basically a photo of one of MJ's album covers printed on a shirt), but they weren't half bad. White and black*** mostly. Now? Bright red, neon yellow and I swear the last time I drove by it looked like it might have been Fat Albert on the tshirt. MJ is NOT Fat Albert.

Wait. Was he?****



*The BAD neighborhood. You know? The one the neighbor feared Katie ran off to?

**Insert bad MJ joke here.

***But not Black and White because that would be an actual MJ song I heard just today. Coincidence?

****Seriously, do a Google search and you will find someone really asked that. The answer? Fat Albert is a cartoon character and Michael Jackson was a person. Brilliant!

7 important things being said:

Andhari said...

Poor dude, he should only sell it for 2 weeks and stop. It gets dull afterward.

Living Dees Life said...

wow this guy is pathetic but he sure brings laughter to us!

Debi said...

ROFL,Damn, B. missed his chance to make some good money! Sigh...
WAIT, I have an idea, sell T-Shirts that say "Free the Body, bury MJ" !
( I wish someone would let the body rest in peace)

J said...

Overestimated is an understatement for sure. I wonder what he will do with the rest of them?

*~Dani~* said...

Andhari - you are not kidding! No lie - yesterday he had Betty Boop shirts with a picture of MJ's head in the corner. I almost crashed my car.

Blaez - so true! We have to love him for that reason alone.

Debi - You are always ahead of the trends! I cannot believe they still havent buried him. Ew.

J - I think his plan is to leave them up and then take them down toward the end of the day to make it appear as if they are selling like hot cakes. In fact, I think he might just continue selling them in various fashions until winter. I will keep you posted.

Jennifer said...

I can so picture this. I wonder how much the shirts are? You should stop and get one!

I knew that Fat Albert was not the same person and MJ, however, I did believe that MJ was on FA in cartoon form. I likely just make that up.

*~Dani~* said...

Jennifer - I am scared to stop and get one, but I might have to some day. I tried to get B to assist me in the name of "research" for the blog, but he wasn't having any of it. I still think MJ was on Fat Albert as a character. Maybe we made that up together?

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