
Image via Wall Street Journal
This morning, NBC News picked up on what, at first, was a small news story earlier in the weekend.
In their coverage of Steve Jobs and his return to the stage for Apple last week, the Wall Street Journal placed a Halloween ad for Grandin Road, a maker of furniture, next to an article about Jobs.
The financial paper ran an ad featuring a skeleton for a Halloween store alongside its story about Jobs speaking at the Apple event. Jobs' health has long been a topic of discussion and his up again, down again weight has sent Apple's stock tumbling in the past. Was the paper's move simply bad judgment or a poor attempt at humor?
According to Chris Matyszczyk at CNET:
The chosen picture of Jobs makes it seem as if he is declaiming to the skeletons, offering to sell the bony ones a new iPod or two. In fact, it looks as if the skeleton on the right is somewhat aghast at something Jobs has revealed. The new pricing, perhaps.
Someone is always charged with the task of insuring that "unfavorable couplings" don't find their way into print - an article, for example, about the benefits of being a vegetarian placed right next to an ad for a big sale at the local beef mart. That's a big no-no.
How could this "oversight" at the Wall Street Journal have slipped through the cracks unnoticed? It just seems a little too difficult to believe.
Anyone else think so?