31 Comments

Fans should get the tickets and a rufund
Steve
2009-07-01 16:05:47

They sure are awful and it's a pretty poor attempt to make a profit.

How pissed off would you be if you actually agreed to buy a ticket and you ended up with one of the two with the shoddy MJ illustration. Ouch!
Glenn Garriock
2009-07-01 16:15:14

i imagine they will probably make more money if they sell the souvenir ticket on ebay, than just getting a refund =/
aaron
2009-07-01 16:17:16

Pretty shoddy design but if it's gunna be worth a mint to some crazy fan on eBay in 20 years time, i'd get one.
Jonny
2009-07-01 16:35:42

They do look really tacky, but MJ wasn't exactly known for his Graphic Design skills, or his taste in interior design! I'll still be getting my ticket, but I think its disgusting that AEG expect his fans to forego their refunds!
Gemma
2009-07-01 17:20:42

I guess they've already printed over a million lenticular tickets then, hmm what else could they do... give them away as prizes in Coco Pops boxes?

Wait a minute... drop shadows, poorly lassoed photos, and is that Trajan? I'm beginning to think these were hastily designed & printed yesterday.
David Bushell
2009-07-01 17:22:40

"His hopes were his fans would want to keep the special ticket as a reminder of the memorable evening that they would share together."

How could he have expressed these hopes if he was brown bread?
Richard Potts
2009-07-01 17:25:32

Did they drop out of Derek Trotter's pocket earlier? Classy.
Jane
2009-07-01 17:27:14

Michael Jackson uses Trajan.
Tom Muller
2009-07-01 17:30:33

There could be as many as 800,000 of these issued if everyone asked for one...

Hardly rare or worth anything
John Instruct
2009-07-01 22:57:34

I agree the fans should get their tickets and their money back. (Even if the tickets do look they have been designed in a matter of minutes!!) I can't believe the tickets are being sold for the cost of the concert - seems unfair after missing out on the show!
mandy
2009-07-02 09:41:45

I think it seems unfair to capitalise on the fans loyalty to save them money, but then again the losses to the companies must have been huge.
Firebubble Design
2009-07-02 14:16:09

"His hopes were his fans would want to keep the special ticket as a reminder of the memorable evening that they would share together."

How could he have expressed these hopes if he was brown bread?"


-mmhmmmm he's clearly still alive and just taking all the money to pay his debts. This is worse than when he sent his fans a personally signed check to refund money for a show he cancelled, in the hope that at least some of them wouldn't cash it, prefering to keep the signature. I can't believe he's done it again!!
Nicola
2009-07-02 16:29:18

Company spent 30 million promoting gigs, having taken orders for tens of millions of £ worth of tickets, and with only insurance for the first 10 gigs.

1. "We're gonna have to hand back this cash"
2. "Nah, how about we just send the tickets and tell them they're collectors items"
1. "They're just bits of paper though"
2. "Tell them Micky Jay helped design them. Plus they've got shiny bits on them. Shiny moving bits."
1. "Holograms?"
2. "Whatever. People will love these unique items"
1. "Yeah but there's 800,000 of them"
2. "Exactly. Only 800,000 of them in the world, and YOU could be the proud owner of one"
Joey
2009-07-02 18:38:35

Simply tell the promoter to "Beat It"
Iain
2009-07-03 11:27:32

grotesque
dave the wha?
2009-07-03 11:37:44

And the thing is they're already selling on Ebay for loads more!
Betony
2009-07-03 11:40:31

if you'd had any involvement in the 'design' process in the production of these you would have to take a long look in the mirror. they are bad! they must think they've got a good thing going…

*yawns
dave
2009-07-03 11:41:07

Despicable! Not rare with so many being issued – simply a transparently diabolical attempt to emotionally blackmail people out of their own money. SHAME ON AEG.
TH Rochester
2009-07-03 11:41:28

Design is rubbish, but funny thing is a lot of the images aren't even MJ as his look a like was on the other day telling how he was the one posing for a lot of the iconic shots, will this reduce the price on ebay, probably not...
LJ
2009-07-03 12:19:30

The Promoter will have had insurance against this type of cancellation. Unbelieveable way to try and make money from heartbroken fans.
Chris
2009-07-03 12:38:42

Are there people out there daft enough to keep the ticket and lose their money? Probably. Are there people out there willing to pay even more for one on Ebay? All elements of this farce are, well, farcical. Especially the total lack of design. We'll be seeing MJ O2 commemorative plates for sale on the back page of the Sunday Times magazine before we know it. Designed by MJ's ailing hand, of course.
Dan
2009-07-03 13:12:16

Oh dear aren't they pretty!
I would hope most people have some sense and give up the diabolical idea that MJ had a hand in it.
I knew it was a big, fat hoax, he is hanging out with Elvis somewhere.
benconservato
2009-07-03 15:07:32

i have decided to pay and keep my tickets so has my daughter i was looking forward to seeing him in september so i surpose the ticket is a memory of what could have been for me anyway
patricia
2009-07-04 14:54:40

The FT had a very interesting article about this dilemma in their weekend magazine today. They argued that the best financial outcome for someone who was neutral would be to take the refund, as there was no guarantee that the souvenir ticket will offer more financial reward or satisfaction.

I think it is pretty poor ethics from AEG not to be offering these tickets for free in addition to the refund, but from a economic point of view it is pure genius. They give out a souvenir that will cost 10p to print, instead of paying back £75. Of course they probably won't recoup all the money they have spent already, but it will help them to avoid bankruptcy.

I've written more about this situation and scenario at my website, http://www.london-insider.co.uk
Boon Koh
2009-07-04 21:21:33

the times today says that about half of the ticket holders have allready accepted the tickets instead of a refund!!!?
stulala
2009-07-05 22:01:30

The idea of people holding on to the ticket and later cash in on ebay is not gonna work, there will be too many tickets out there.

Also, if AEG's ethics allows them to do this kind of thing, what's to keep them from putting all the refunded tickets in a vault and later auction them off themselves? That totals to about one million souvenirs on the ebay market.

But they're probably smarter than that, they'll start selling the souvenir tickets off once the refunds have been handled. Gotta love market economics.
Kenn Munk
2009-07-08 08:25:38

see comments on
http://www.maximum-jackson.com/comments.html
Basil
2009-07-09 21:35:59

I want some Michael Jackson stuff.
AJ
2009-07-29 18:50:51

i think that michael jackson can still be alive, it makes scence. he wasn't really good at making long term decisions, mabe he wanted to make moer fans or something. besides, michael jackson is due for a hoax.
michael jackson inpersinator
2009-10-02 19:12:16

who cares about the design?! the fans want the tickets because they are a part of history.
Sarah J.
2010-01-25 01:40:05

Tell us what you think

Your comment: What happens with my feedback?

What happens with my feedback?

We no longer require you to register and have a password in order to comment, simply fill in the form below. All comments are moderated so you may experience a short delay before your comment appears. CR encourages comments to be short and to the point. As a general rule, they should not run longer than the original post. Comments should show a courteous regard for the presence of other voices in the discussion. We reserve the right to edit or delete comments that do not adhere to this standard.

Name: (required)

Title:

e-Mail: (required)

URL