Bad 25 was a fantastic project that suffered from a total ignorance of promotion in the United States. I saw an ad for the box set before a YouTube video once; the Pepsi cans were difficult to locate; the I Just Can't Stop Loving You single was in short supply; the Ne-Yo endorsed Pepsi concert came and went without much coverage; and stores seemed generally unhyped by the project as a whole. The Spike Lee documentary did get intense coverage on TV but the idea of broadcasting it on Thanksgiving, a night when most Americans decide to watch football, was a bad one. I'm not necessarily a genius when it comes to who is in charge of promoting a product, but common sense would say that it's up to Sony. If they want to make any money back from their 2010 contract they need to start putting their backs into this.
I wouldn't call Bad 25 a low seller. There are many anniversary compilations and greatest hits box sets that fail to make any kind of impact on the charts. The standard edition did peak at 24, and overseas it reached the top ten in at least 12 countries. I just think that the estate and fans recognized Thriller 25's sales of three million copies and expected those kinds of sales. Unfortunately it was just a pipe dream, although Bad 25 is ten times better than Thriller 25 and, in my opinion, deserves more recognition that it's getting.
