No such thing as bad publicity?
Auction webiste eBay has halted all sales of Live 8 tickets after organiser Bob Geldof called the site an "electronic pimp".
A number of winners of the text lottery for the prized tickets tried to sell them on the website for as much as £1,000 a pair. Geldof attacked the opportunists calling them a "disgrace". Moments before eBay cancelled the sales, Geldof celebrated with a thumbs up when Sky's Jeremy Thomson told him that punters had attempted to sabotage the sales by bidding an impossible £10m. Speaking on Sky News, Geldof had urged fans to "just keep messing it up". But his calls proved unnecessary when eBay stopped the sales that it had earlier defended as not illegal.
Geldof had said: "I am sick with this. It is a disgrace. It is completely against the interests of the poor. The people who are selling these tickets on websites are miserable wretches who are capitalising on people's misery. I am appealing to their sense of decency to stop this disgusting greed."
Geldof had told Sky News that he planned to speak directly to the owner of the site, adding: "From what I hear he is kind of a good guy."
More than 100 pairs of tickets appeared on eBay, after the 75,000 people who got lucky in a text message lottery were told they had won. The Hunter Foundation, which is helping Geldof organise the Scottish leg of the event, had also urged sellers to withdraw the lots. Chief executive Ewan Hunter said: "It is obscene for anyone to profit from Live 8. "Live 8 is about the 30,000 kids that died today, will die tomorrow and the next day. Is that something you want to profit from or stop happening?"
Sometimes it's the small victories that count.
A number of winners of the text lottery for the prized tickets tried to sell them on the website for as much as £1,000 a pair. Geldof attacked the opportunists calling them a "disgrace". Moments before eBay cancelled the sales, Geldof celebrated with a thumbs up when Sky's Jeremy Thomson told him that punters had attempted to sabotage the sales by bidding an impossible £10m. Speaking on Sky News, Geldof had urged fans to "just keep messing it up". But his calls proved unnecessary when eBay stopped the sales that it had earlier defended as not illegal.
Geldof had said: "I am sick with this. It is a disgrace. It is completely against the interests of the poor. The people who are selling these tickets on websites are miserable wretches who are capitalising on people's misery. I am appealing to their sense of decency to stop this disgusting greed."
Geldof had told Sky News that he planned to speak directly to the owner of the site, adding: "From what I hear he is kind of a good guy."
More than 100 pairs of tickets appeared on eBay, after the 75,000 people who got lucky in a text message lottery were told they had won. The Hunter Foundation, which is helping Geldof organise the Scottish leg of the event, had also urged sellers to withdraw the lots. Chief executive Ewan Hunter said: "It is obscene for anyone to profit from Live 8. "Live 8 is about the 30,000 kids that died today, will die tomorrow and the next day. Is that something you want to profit from or stop happening?"
Sometimes it's the small victories that count.
posted by phylos @ 18:23
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