Genius plan to sell 1,000 One Direction cut-outs featuring Zayn Malik
All over Britain this week, there are thousands of devastated One Direction fans, heartbroken at the news that Zayn Malik has left One Direction. But however heartbroken they may be, there's a good chance they're not as gutted as the seller who has found themselves stuck with a job-lot of 1,000 One Direction cut-outs - ordered for their new World Tour.
The enormous cardboard cut-outs featured all five band members, with Malik nestling cosily among the group, so when Malik announced his departure, they were left with a challenge on their hands.
The seller explains on Wholesaleclearance.co.uk: "We had the heart breaking decision of putting the now, redundant five onto the skip, never to see the light of day again, or the equally heart wrenching effort of tearing Zayn away from his friends to leave the new forceful foursome!"
Fortunately, some clever scissor work has presented them with a possible solution, as they have managed to cut him out of the picture, and tape the rest of the band back together - although they warn that the neatness of the job is likely to vary between cut outs. The price reflects a slight reduction in quality, and all 1,000 cut-outs are on sale for £1,000.
The website adds: "Goodbye Zayn, farewell and good luck in your future ventures. If you by any chance want a 1000 cardboard cut-outs of yourself we would be more than willing to send them to you. Or if you want a whole one of the group to remind you of the good times, do let us know!"
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Not the first
This isn't the first seller to suddenly realise they have an awful lot of outdated merchandise on their hands with the departure of Malik. This is the second great answer to the headache in as many days. It follows hot on the hells of Lidl announcing it was cutting a fifth of the price of its One Direction Easter egg - to reflect the fact that one fifth of the band had left.
It's not known whether either story has done much to cheer up the heartbroken fans.
It echoes the challenges facing one man in 2013. He had just taken delivery of a job-lot of Lance Armstrong DVDs called 'The Science of Lance Armstrong'. The DVD had been made in 2005 and claimed the cyclist's incredible achievements were down to his 'superhuman physiology'.
It was just after the DVDs arrived when the cyclist admitted he had simply been cheating. The seller said at the time: "I was hoping the problem would die down and I would be able to find a home for them. Now I don't think I would get a tenth of the money back." He added: "I just wish he had either kept his mouth shut a bit longer or not done it in the first place."
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