To use Alan Henning's death to sell your product

[raltheraffe]

Someone I know has recently started up a business selling children's books and toys that are supposed to teach all children they are the same regardless of religion, sexuality or race. A very nice idea.
However I find it somewhat distasteful that she has put on the company Facebook "My thoughts and prayers go out to Alan Hemming's and family!" (sic) and then in the same paragraph is plugging her company, as a means to stop further atrocities. Not only is it very naive that a children's book will be the solution to ISIS, but I just feel it is wrong to use such a horrific death as a means to sell product.

Can someone respond? I feel a bit bad criticising someone who has set up a lovely company, so I may just be acting like a total cow. However I just feel uncomfortable with what she has done.

Someone might respond if your thread title made sense?

Don't understand what you mean?

Thanks Mintyy my first thread on here so apologies if it is confusing.
Basically woman selling books telling children to love each other irrespective of race and religion. She owns company.
She posted on the company's FB about Alan Hemming (sic) and put that her thoughts and prayers were with his family (nothing wrong with that) and in the next sentence she is stating this is why her company and these books it produces are so important. Plugging her product and she could not be arsed even getting the poor blokes name right.

She did the same thing a few months back, sharing a news article about a teenage lad who killed himself. Again stating that this is why her company, teaching self esteem and love, is so important.

thanks Tiger I could not work out whether I was being a complete bitch, or am right to find it distateful

She spelled his name wrong?!
I think it's distasteful and tbh irrelevant to her product. Extremists wouldn't be giving their children this book would they?
Her book and company on the whole sounds like a nice idea though.

I guess it depends how it's done exactly and what the product is.

It's facebook so I don't really understand if/how it would increase traffic (I don't use facebook).

If it increases traffic then yes, it's a shitty thing to do. If people would already be on her page then, acknowledging his death is fine. Even if she goes on to say that her books might help solve this problem. You can't really argue against that if she believes teaching children equality will help to solve many of the world's problems. It's not going to stop ISIS in it's tracks, but you never know, it might stop a few children going down the wrong path in life .

Getting his name wrong, on a business website, is shitty. Mind you, it'll stop it coming up if his friends or family google his name, so it might not be bad to let sleeping dogs lie on that one!

YADNBU. It's incredibly tasteless.

Thank you for your feedback. I am not sure whether she is deluded and really thinks a nice children's book and toy will stop ISIS and teen suicides, or whether she just jumps on any opportunity to cash in on other people's misery. Still cannot believe she called him Alan Hemming!