Nobody comes particularly well out of this story. After winning a lawsuit with the Diana Foundation about rights to the image of the Princess of Wales (that’s the Princess of Wales as immortalised in the song, “Goodbye England’s Rose”, god damn you Elton John), the Franklin Mint, purveyors of granny crap1 to the world, decided to do what comes naturally to an American corporation with lawyers, and countersue the Foundation so hard that their regal ancestors feel the pain. Presumably pour decourager des autres; after all, there are a lot of celebrities on their last legs and I can see how it might be inconvenient to have to go through a prolonged court battle every time before you can get down to the business of milking the grieving fans for the price of a commemorative plate.
Anyway, the Diana Fund trustees have realised that they are potentially personally liable for the costs of this lawsuit, and in order to protect themselves against possible action for wrongful trading, have frozen all the accounts of the Fund until the suit is completed. Bad news for all manner of cute, furry animals and disabled children. I am not entirely sure who decided that it would be good publicity for the Franklin Mint to bankrupt Princess Diana’s legacy and close down a number of charities, but there you go. As I say, nobody comes particularly well out of this one.
1Since these people are apparently quite litigious, I would like to point out that I am using the term “granny crap” to refer generically to kitsch ornaments of all sorts. The term “granny crap” is not specifically meant to refer to the products of the Franklin Mint but rather to be a general pejorative comment expressing my opinion of the general aesthetic of celebrity-themed merchandise. To show goodwill, I am prepared to give the following unsolicited testimonial; I believe that the Franklin Mint is the finest manufacturer and direct marketer of granny crap currently operating today.
{ 10 comments }
Henry 07.14.03 at 3:21 pm
Granny crap me arse. To you, my mate, those are precious future collectibles, available only for a period of six months in a limited edition of 150,000. I’ve heard somewhere or another (pure hearsay) that one of the sadder parts of Antique Roadshow, is dealing with the old dears who’ve spent dollops on Franklin Mint product and similar tat, and are convinced that they’re sitting on a small fortune … Although, for similar reasons to dsquared, I’ll chime in with his final assessment of the Franklin Mint.
B. Cavanaski 07.14.03 at 4:20 pm
The problem is ‘granny crap.’ Interestingly progressive & democratic. Tell it to Frankenthaler and O’Keeffe. And me.
Jeremy Leader 07.14.03 at 8:34 pm
There’s a common saying among quantitative MBAs, Quality proponents, and so on, that “you can’t improve what you don’t measure”. What they often overlook is that it’s very common to improve what’s being measured, at the expense of everything else that isn’t.
Oh, and I like the term “granny crap”, for all that it’s offensive to grannies (and probably crap, too). But does the term really cover enough ground? Does it really apply to (say) commemorative plates with images of sainted NASCAR drivers?
Jeremy Leader 07.14.03 at 8:36 pm
Argh, the first half of the above comment was intended for a different article entirely.
laughing boy 07.14.03 at 8:57 pm
Granny crap. Heh.
rea 07.14.03 at 10:11 pm
“that’s the Princess of Wales as immortalised in the song, “Goodbye England’s Rose”, god damn you Elton John”
“Prince[ss] of Wales” is just a title stolen by the [bloody] English back around the reign of Edward I, anyway–Diana wasn’t Welsh, despite your claim.
alkali 07.14.03 at 11:35 pm
I believe that the Franklin Mint is the finest manufacturer and direct marketer of granny crap currently operating today.
Does this reflect fond memories of some granny crap manufacturer of days gone by?
John 07.15.03 at 6:40 am
Just because Diana was not (and Charles is not) Welsh, does not mean that she was not Princess of Wales (and he is not Prince of Wales). After all, George I was a German who was King of Great Britain, and William III, James I, and William I were, respectively, a Dutchman, a Scot, and a Norman who were King of England. Jean Bernadotte was a Gascon, but that didn’t stop him from becoming King Carl XIV Johan of Sweden and King Carl III Johan of Norway. And so forth.
Further, one might note that Diana’s status as Welsh is even more irrelevant than Charles’s. After all, royal consorts are, historically, pretty rarely from the country of which their husband is the monarch.
John 07.15.03 at 6:46 am
One might add that Diana’s ex-mother-in-law is neither Canadian, Australian, Barbadian, nor Papuan, but she is, nevertheless, Queen of Canada, Australia, Barbados, and Papua New Guinea
The Lonewacko Blog 07.15.03 at 7:45 pm
“One might add that Diana’s ex-mother-in-law is neither Canadian, Australian, Barbadian, nor Papuan, but she is, nevertheless, Queen of Canada, Australia, Barbados, and Papua New Guinea”
Intuitively, that makes a lot of sense.
BTW, the Franklin Mint even has a Gray Davis connection:
http://www.jillstewart.net//issue0710.html
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