A Russian Company Is Now Selling Children's Beds Modelled On The Launcher That Shot MH17
A PR stunt to cash in on the MH17 tragedy.
By Sadho Ram — 07 Oct 2016, 09:52 PM
Days after it was officially confirmed that there was "no doubt" that the MH17 was shot down by a Russian Buk missile system, it has now come to light that a Russian furniture company is selling a children's bed modelled after the same surface-to-air missile system
Manufactured by a firm called CARoBUS in the Russian city of St Petersburg, the Buk bed is part of a special series. While the firm usually makes beds shaped like cars, ships and planes, the special series appears to be a PR stunt to cash in on the MH17 tragedy.
And the firm's move has not gone unnoticed as people are outraged over it.
"Is this some kind of joke?" a Russian reporter, Oleg Kashin, wrote on his Facebook page, expressing his feelings of disgust about the Buk bed.
Apart from Kashin, there are other comments by users.
"Free PR, market demand - the guy's a genius," wrote one user of leading Russian news site Lenta, to which someone replied, "Calling him a genius may be going too far."
"Maybe we should forbid children to play at 'war'?," wrote another user.
The Buk bed is painted with Russian military insignia and features a base that can be lifted to resemble a missile launcher ready to fire
However, while people are angry over the Buk bed, CaroBus Director Anton Koppel doesn't see "anything abnormal" in the bed
Defended the Buk bed, Anton was quoted by the Russian website Fontanka.ru, "Some kids want to be doctors, some want to be bakers, some want to be in the military."
The firm has sold 10 of the Buk beds, which are priced at 11,000 rubles (RM734).
Although, it appears the public outrage over the Buk bed has made the firm rethink its decision and it has now changed the name of the bed from Buk to "Defender," saying it was done after "a number of requests for a more neutral name", The Washington Post reported
On its website, CaroBus displayed this message:
"We draw your attention to the fact that this is a defensive weapon, not an offensive one. It has been guarding the peace in the skies since 1980."
It's not the first time that people have used a tragedy like MH17. Back in 2014, it were the online scammers and opportunists: