Microsoft received much Twitter flak after a small PR account for Xbox encouraged followers to remember recently deceased musician Amy Winehouse by purchasing her last album on the company’s entertainment marketplace, Zune. After about an hour of retweets with comments like “classy,” “crass much?” and “Microsoft – failing at social media,” the account tweeted a follow up.
Apologies to everyone if our earlier Amy Winehouse ‘download’ tweet seemed purely commercially motivated,” it said. “Far from the case, we assure you.”

Microsoft isn’t the only company that has seemingly attempted to capitalize on the star’s death.

Apple posted an image of Winehouse on the front of the iTunes store with the caption “remembering Amy Winehouse.” Her breakout album, the Grammy winning Back to Black, has subsequently become the number-one album in the store. Amazon also posted a brief obituary that linked to a page where shoppers can purchase the singer’s music.

Sales of Back to Black increased 37 times immediately after Winehouse’s death.

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