Money for Nothing promo stand - nice little story

[One Armed Bandit Man]

Here's the story on how, a few weeks ago, I got the MFN promo-thing on the picture below.

In 1988 I went to high school. Every week we had one hour of music education and our teacher had decorated the class room with posters from all kinds of artists of that era. Think U2, Bon Jovi, Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, Spandau Ballet, Lionel Ritchie and so on. All very main stream.
In order to make room for new posters he sometimes gave posters away, as a reward for a good assignment, or as birthday presents.
You could always ask for a poster if you liked it, and "no" meant no, while "maybe later" meant that there was a change someone was going to obtain a poster during the following weeks.

There was however one Dire Straits object with a "3D" effect, on cardboard. I wanted it really, really bad, but there was no point asking that one, no one ever did. As if everyone instinctively knew that it was impossible to obtain that one.
It sat on the top shelf, near the ceiling: well visible, but anyone who touched it was in trouble: detention after school, sweeping the area outside the school etc.

A couple of years ago my sister got a boyfriend, who is 12 years younger than me, he went to my old high school. We have talked about that school, about teachers and about music, but we never talked about the combination of the three, until a few weeks ago, when we discussed MK.

I started talking about the Dire Straits promo stand with 3D effect, and my brother in law told me that he bought it for € 1,- when our former music teacher retired from that school! Apparently no-one wanted it, hence the low price...

My brother in law recently moved in with my sister and gave it to me! It seems my sister does not want his childhood relics in the house... 
So now it stand on my desk at home and I'm really happy with it! For a nearly 30 year old promo stand it's in good condition, only a few scratches and dents near the side. The red guitar is a little orange, probably due to UV light, so during the day I cover it!

Does anyone else have this thing as well?  Or any other old promotional materials? Is it common?
I once had the On the Night promotional stand of a radiotelescope, but lost it when I moved during my university years.


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[Jules]

How, that's cool. Great story, how funny is life sometimes, isn´t it?

[Knopflerfan]

Ingridswing and I each own the full figure 'MK' Stand, MK complete with sweatband and Pensa used to promote 'Golden Heart'!!

[dmg]

Great story and you'll enjoy it all the more because it'll really mean something to you.  Wow!

I've never seen anything like it myself.  I suppose most of these would've been thrown away immediately after use.

[twm]

I think record companies produced these for display purposes in record shops - remember those? I have a Dylan one myself somehwere (I think it survived the house move)  and I'm pretty sure I've seen a different one for DS or MK (not the one pictured or a Golden heart one) - maybe at a record fair or some such. Anyway, I'm afraid I can't remember which DS/MK album.

At one time, some issues of RECORD RETAILER (a weekly UK trade paper) used to include smallish posters promoting recent releases - for a record shop to display in a window or on the wall.  Its full name was RECORD RETAILER and MUSIC INDUSTRY NEWS and it provided one of the more authoritative record sales charts. The name of the publication and the date of publication  usually appeared in very small print somewhere on the poster. Since they were sponsored by the record companies, these posters count as "genuine"  memorabilia, rather than similar material produced, often years afterwards, on a commercial basis. I have picked up two or three Dylan ones from RECORD RETAILER over the years  (again, if they've survived the house move) but they were all from the mid-late '60s. RECORD RETAILER became MUSIC WEEK in the 1970s but I don't know if the poster practice continued. If it did, it may be worth looking out for DS ones.

[One Armed Bandit Man]

Hi all,
Still very happy with it, so I took another picture, in the setting sun, hence the bright colours.



Knopflerfan, It's not a full size Knopf, but it is something!

TWM,
I looked in the attic this afternoon and found another thing, not as exciting, but I remember begging for it in a record store (for young people: that was a lifesize shop, where you could only go to during certain opening hours, where they'd sell CDs, and before that vinyl records. It was the only place to get new music, and with new I mean "the music that the old-fashioned shop owner thought was 'appropriate').
Feeling rather embarrassed now, when I come to think of it: as an 18 year old, going to shops and beg for a poster...

It's probably from 1993 or 1994. I remember having a grey "Bad Boys" t-shirt with the exact same picture on it, probably also in the attic, in the box with OES t-shirt...
Hmm, my days of get-a-lifer are long gone, or are they?

[Pottel]

i used to have, or still may have, the money for nothing shopping bag. not sure where i got it from ,but boy did i love it...

[Banjo99uk]

Ive  still got a on every street plastic bag and parking ticket from Woburn Abbey 1992.

[dustyvalentino]

Ingridswing and I each own the full figure 'MK' Stand, MK complete with sweatband and Pensa used to promote 'Golden Heart'!!

Me too. Have an On the Night one as well.

I like the MFN one though,  don't think I've ever seen the full pic befire.

[ingridswing]

I indeed owe that one from the Golden Heart promo. Thinking about selling it, because of lack of space. So if someone is interested.

[vgonis]

Nice! Haven't seen it before!