Saturday 30 October 2010

The Shop That Died Of Shame

Each year, "Top Peoples' Shop" Selfridges (sorry, I don't know what a "Top Person" is) gets a lot of media play over their Christmas window displays. This year, with a theme of play, they invite customers and passers-by to reconnect with their inner child, lighting up their storefront all along Oxford Street with a riot of colour and cleverness based on Christmas Day in a dolls' house.

So far, so good. Then, this pic got picked up by several papers...


Could that be a female Frank Sidebottom? What a coincidence! The pic got picked up by some of the Frank Sidebottom fan groups on Facebook, with questions being asked about whether or not Selfridges had permission to use the likeness. Seems not - they hadn't approached anybody connected with the Sievey/Sidebottom estate. Well, after all, it could be Betty Boop. Right?

I went along this morning to see if there were any more faux Sidies. Oh yes. Several, in fact.









If that's Betty Boop, then I'm Walt Disney.

Selfridges ought to be ashamed of themselves for stealing a dead man's clothes, and I hope they do the right thing by either removing these heads from their display, or make a sizeable donation to the fund being set up to get a statue of the Great Man erected in Timperley.

11 comments:

Sat In A Pub said...

Well said. They shouldn't be allowed to get away with this cheap shot.

Dec said...

They're not stupid, they know that its the face of Frank but with long eyelashes and lipstick. I know it is, they know it is, you know it is, it really is. Down with this sort of thing!

Anonymous said...

This blog post is laughable. You are complaining about stolen content YET you are using at least one stolen copyright image on your blog. *rolls eyes* Double standards? Yes. At least be consistent.

Anonymous said...

To the self righteous pillock above. This blog is not Selfridges. It is not on one of the worlds busiest thoroughfares. It is not famous for having extremely well designed Christmas displays so people come from the whole world to look at it. It is not selling anything. It is not a
Business venture. It is not laughable. *rolls eyes*
It would appear you seem to be a hybrid of the internet police and old school Tory headmaster.
Nice.

Anonymous said...

To the person above - nice to see you feel the need to resort to name-calling. *rolls eyes right back at you* Just how old are you, seriously? If you are an adult, perhaps you should act like one.

And sorry but whether it's a Selfridges's blog or not is entirely irrelevant. If you are going to talk about copyright or using content without permission - you SHOULD at least be consistent and not a hypocrite. Why does it make any different whether Selfridges is a business? Right is right, wrong is wrong. Your argument is pitiful and would not hold up in the eyes of the law. Nice try.

I look forward to your response and wait with baited breath to see whether you resort to some more of your childish name-calling.

Sid Boggle said...

To anonymous posters. I don't want trolls here. Enough. Anon #1. If you're too chicken-hearted to accuse me of hypocrisy without signing yourself off, then fuck off.

tecton said...

Anon#1

Please acquaint yourself with the concept of "fair use" before sprouting off.

SeadogBlog said...

They should have asked permission. You know they should, they really should.

By way of atonement, It would be big of Selfridge's to make a non-bobbins donation to the statue fund.

Anonymous said...

To the Internet policeman above,
I don't think people's problem is they're using Frank Sidebottom's image. The issue if that they're not crediting Frank Sidebottom and nor have they requested permission to use it. I get the impression that Chris's family would have been happy for them to use his face. I never met Frank personally but from what I've read I get the feeling he'd be delighted to see his face in a famous store's window too.

I cannot see anywhere in this blog where the author claims to have personally invented a copyrighted image, whereas it appears Selfridges are passing Frank's face off as their own work (Well I couldn't see any reference to Frank anywhere in the display - other than his head!).

Anonymous said...

THEY KNOW IT WAS BASED ON FRANK SIDE BOTTOM!!!!!

THEY TWEAKED IT TO MAKE SURE LEGALY THEY WERNT UNDER COPYRIGHT LAW!!

THERES MORE GOING UP ACROSS THE STORE DAY BY DAY!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Anon above - Go away and find someone else to argue with, you're adding nothing to the debate. You're like a 12 year old in the playground.

To everyone else. Selfridges are a disgrace, Frank could have done with their support when he was alive. If anyone slightly changed Selfrideges images they'd be sending the lawyers round. I hope someone from Frank's estate is seeking legal advice.

Rob