
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 16, 1995                   TAG: 9501250014
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ATLANTA                                  LENGTH: Medium

KING'S HEIRS STEP UP SALE OF HIS MEMORY

With plans for an interactive museum and journeys to Graceland for marketing tips, the heirs of Martin Luther King Jr. appear eager to step up the selling of his memory.

Marketing experts and those who have had contact with the King family say the moves are driven by a desire to control how King's message is disseminated as well as by profit.

And they caution that marketing the image of one so revered carries many pitfalls and requires a great deal of delicacy.

``There are so many millions of people that respected Martin Luther King that would want some memento of what he stood for,'' said Kenneth L. Bernhardt, marketing department chairman at Georgia State University. ``The danger is in trivializing the person and his accomplishments.''

King, a Baptist minister who helped lead a national fight for blacks' civil rights in the 1960s, was assassinated April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn. He would have been 66 on Sunday. The national holiday commemorating his birth was celebrated for the first time Jan. 20, 1986.

While the nation observes his birthday today, the Kings are moving on several fronts.

The estate recently gave the job of handling licensing requests to Atlanta-based Intellectual Properties Management.

Dexter King, King's youngest son and head of the King Center in Atlanta, has met twice with the caretakers of Elvis Presley's image. And the family has been in a well-publicized battle with the National Park Service over rival plans for a tourist attraction in Atlanta, King's hometown.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that King has discussed a possible motion picture, videos and merchandising of other products with Turner Broadcasting System Inc. and Time Warner Inc. The companies would not confirm the talks.

Jack Soden, chief executive officer of Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. in Memphis, confirmed that King had sought advice about marketing and licensing.

``There's a distinct difference in the role Martin Luther King played in society and Elvis the entertainer,'' Soden said. ``But the basic mechanisms of protecting, guarding and nurturing the value of the name, image and likeness are the same.''

by CNB