12 years ago was one of the most devastating terrorist attacks on Western culture. From this event, 3000 innocent people had lost their lives and left many suffering. It was seen today that one of the largest cellphone American cell phone provider, AT&T, had used this event to their advantage to advertise their products and service.
The image above shows the picture AT&T had tweeted, showing beams of lights arising from ground zero off a picture on a smart phone, quoting “Never Forget”.
This add stands as a strong example of how businesses use unethical approaches to market or advertise their products. I view this add as unethical as it is based upon the tragedy of 9/11 to market their product. This advertisement stunt picked up several articles ranging from the National Post, to The Guardian. The author from The Guardian wrote “The line between smart strategy and insensitive insult, however, is thin on social media, and today more than one company was called out for crossing it.”
In my opinion, this advertising method is in poor taste, raising the question about ethics in businesses advertisement strategy.
More comments on this topic from US citizens can be seen at here.