Friday 20 July 2012

Maybe they could be buried first?

Am I the only one that finds it a little outrageous when mainstream genealogical records vendors start using the deaths of celebrities as a means to immediately peddle their wares - just hours after the celebrities' deaths have been announced?

To give a couple of examples - on July 8th, veteran Hollywood film actor Ernest Borgnine passed away. On the following day, an American based vendor's blog had a post detailing the story of the actor - not by his achievements, but by the long list of records found on its site. Could it perhaps be an American thing? Sadly no. Today, with the announcement of the death of British news reader Alastair Burnett, a British vendor noted within hours that it was sad to hear of his loss on a social networking site, the comment accompanied by a full blown image of his birth index entry. 

An obituary is a wonderful way to commemorate the loss of a talent, to remind people why such a loss is indeed a loss. A cheap advert exploiting a tragedy just hours after the announcement of such a loss doesn't really impress quite so much... 

Chris