Rolls Royce Sponsors Michael Jackson Funeral!

Land Rover Encino 'Product Placed' Rolls Royce and Range Rovers at the Jackson Funeral

It’s a bit of a tabloid headline – apologies. And it’s not strictly true. But it is true that a Rolls Royce and Land Rover dealer – Land Rover Encino – supplied a couple of Black Rolls Royce Phantoms and a fleet of ten Black Range Rovers for the use of the Jackson family and entourage – free of charge – for the Jackson Funeral.

Jackson was undoubtedly a musical genius, if somewhat flawed as a man. And financial controversy and freebies dogged him for a very long time, so in a way it’s apposite that this Rolls Royce / Range Rover dealer should jump in with product placement in such a crass way.

It also adds to the tackiness of the funeral. A gold coffin and a very public funeral are not something any of us would want for our loved ones. But it does seem – or am I just being an old cynic – that the Jackson Family are milking Michael’s funeral for all its worth – in terms of publicity and money. Sad to see. But maybe as time passes we’ll remember the genius that was Thriller instead of the madness of the later years. In much the same way as we remember Elvis at his peak, not at his bloated nadir.

And I wouldn’t have thought that Rolls Royce or Land Rover would be overly chuffed at this turn of events.