While a segment that aired last night on ABC’s 20/20 (also on the ABC News website) doesn’t establish “hard evidence” that an exhibits company has broken any laws, it raises questions about the line between scientific research and entertainment.
Have you seen the Bodies: The Exhibition in San Diego, New York City, Seattle, Washington D.C., Atlanta or Amsterdam? A Goldman Sachs piece of news raised the stock price of the company behind the controversial exhibits to an all-time high earlier this month. Word of the ABC News report triggered a sell-off Friday.
Premier Exhibitions Inc. issued a statement, labeling the ABC News report as sensationalized. But the company is probably not done explaining its side of the story.
Sure, ABC News is playing the Nielsen sweeps game. More viewers means higher ad rates the Disney-owned network can charge advertisers in the future.
PR strategists for Premier are hoping the public’s fascination with its exhibits outweighs any ethical discomfort. ABC is hoping for a big audience.
Displaying “plastinated” human corpses in a quasi-museum setting can generate pretty big dollars. It no longer can be done without scrutiny from medical ethicists, politicians — and news media that is part of an entertainment giant.
Everyone has a stake.
photo: zizi guegan on flickr.
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