Tiptoeing through 9/11 marketing

Colleague Eric Ringham has turned in another 9/11-themed ad. This one appeared in this morning’s Star Tribune. Curiously, the three area 9/11-themed promotions have involved either booze or food. There’s been very little advertising locally that acknowledges 9/11 without trying to bring in a few more customers in the process.

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“We’ve been saying to people, there’s probably no right way to do this,” said J. Walker Smith, executive chairman at the Futures Company consultancy, which is to release this month a report on public attitudes toward 9/11. He was quoted in a recent article in the New York Times on how advertisers are just now dipping a toe in the 9/11 advertising water. “If I were a marketer, I would let the moment pass,” Mr. Smith said. “Anything you do could be seen as self-serving or disrespectful.”

The worst 9/11-themed ad ever was this one in 2009 from the World Wildlife Fund-Brazil.

But what about an ad like this? It aired only once:

But there’s also this: A New York winery selling 9/11 wine for $19.11.