3 Companies’ 9/11 Advertising Fails

by William White | September 12, 2013 1:30 pm

[1]AT&T (T[2]), Marriott International (MAR[3]) and Esquire magazine all received backlash[4] from poor 9/11 advertising.

AT&T received its backlash due to a photo the company posted to Twitter of a person taking a picture of the twin lights that illuminate New York’s sky on the anniversary of the attack with a phone. AT&T has removed the picture from Twitter and apologized for offending people. Marriott also got negative comments from a picture that was posted to Twitter. The photo is of a sign sitting next to a stack of muffins that reads “In remembrance of those we lost on 9/11 the hotel will provide complimentary coffee and mini muffins from 8:45 – 9:15 am.” Marriott apologized for the picture, claiming that the offer was made from an independent location and not by the hotel brand, reports the Associated Press.

Esquire magazine’s blunder wasn’t done on purpose and was instead caused by a glitch on the magazine’s website. A glitch with the website caused an image of the “Falling Man”, a man falling to his death from one of the Twin Towers, to appear next to a fashion article titled “Make Your Morning Commute More Stylish.” While Esquire did apologize for the glitch, the tone it used in its apology didn’t sit well with many people. The apology Tweet said ” Relax, everybody. There was a stupid technical glitch on our “Falling Man” story and it was fixed asap. We’re sorry for the confusion,” reports CBC News[5].

“”Relax” seems like an inappropriate response to this enormous ******. As does referring to it as a “stupid technical glitch,”” “The inappropriateness of this post demands more than a “relax.” Completely insufficient,” and “That’s the most obnoxious apology I’ve ever seen,” are a few responses[6] to Esquire’s Tweet.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/09/3-companies-911-advertising-fails/

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