Beyond decadence

Philip M. writes from England:

Robbery is bad? Dear me, you American traditionalists really lack the sophistication of us liberal Brits. Over here, a mugging is seen as an advertising opportunity.

Here is the story from the Mail that Philip sent. Prepare to be sickened.

‘See what people will do for a Hublot?’ Bernie Ecclestone poses in advert for watch brand after he was mugged for his £200,000 timepiece
8th December 2010

Trust Bernie Ecclestone to manage to turn a mugging into a money-making opportunity.

The Formula One boss, who is worth an estimated £2 billion, was attacked by four men outside his office in Central London last month.

But even before he’d had his four stitches removed, Mr Ecclestone contacted Formula One’s official watchmaker, Hublot, and suggested they used pictures of his battered face as part of an adverting campaign.

Shock tactics: Bernie Ecclestone has turned his recent mugging into a money-making opportunity

‘I rang them up and suggested this was a chance to do something different,’ said Mr Ecclestone.

‘I can understand people wanting to rob me when they are poor and they want some things for the kids with Christmas coming along, but what they did was unnecessary.’

Using the tag line ‘See what people will do for a Hublot,’ the advert shows the injury done to Mr Ecclestone during the attack and a large picture of a watch similar to the personalised one, worth £200,000, that was stolen from him.

Battered and bruised: Bernie Ecclestone outside his central London office yesterday

Still sporting a shiner: Ecclestone soon after the attack and still showing the scars in Liverpool on Sunday

The poster also, perhaps unnecessarily, emphasises that ‘Hublot condemns all forms of violence and racism.’

During the attack, the four muggers also stole jewellery from Fabiana Flosi, Mr Ecclestone’s partner while kicking him to the ground.

The hard-working 80-year-old was back in the office less than 48 hours later.

- end of initial entry -

James P. writes:

Why doesn’t a billionaire have bodyguards? I sure would if I were worth a lot less than that. He should be worried about kidnapping, not muggers.

David M. writes:

The more I read about England, I wonder what happened to the England of Churchill, or Adm Ben Briant, or Douglas Bader, or John “Catseyes” Cunningham. All one now sees of England is rampant crime, entitlement mentalities, and hooliganism. And those folks are overwhelmingly white; more’s the pity.

Then again—at least to me—the height of decadence is spending £200,000 on a device to tell what the time is.

LA to Philip:

Wow, that is seriously sick.

Philip replies:

I know, “sick” is the word that came to my mind too. It is truly shocking. When I read it I tried to do what I usually do, and formulate some response, try to figure out what I would say to someone if he asked me why I thought this was wrong, but on this one, words fail me. I wonder how long it can now be before rape victims are endorsing the clothes they wore when they were attacked? Normally such a statement would sound evil, but in the context of this story … well, it’s in the same “ball park” as you would say over there, isn’t it?

Roland D. writes:

I’m sure before long, we’ll see an ad with empty pair of athletic shoes sporting a tasteful bloodstain or two, and perhaps an empty bullet casing, so as to signal to the hip-hop/rap crowd just how desirable the shoes really are.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 10, 2010 05:18 PM | Send