Performance Marketing

Are Well-Intentioned 9/11 Tweets From Brands and Their Critics Becoming Equally Dubious?

It's getting harder to say

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By Christopher Heine

It's always potentially controversial when marketers tweet anything in reference to tragedy—especially when Americans are remembering, like they are today, those who died or were negatively affected on Sept. 11, 2001. Take the following tweet as an example of a growing sentiment on Twitter: 

Rando Savage is far from alone. While brands have been guilty of glomming onto tragedy via social media, such ill-advised activity has given birth to a new phenomenon that may now be equally as dubious: Brand Critics. There may be more tweets today scolding companies for hashtagging #NeverForget than there are actual branded tweets.

So, in the end, both Brand Critics and the brands themselves end up trying to make a big point about how to be thoughtful on a day of sad remembrance. Sure, there's a chicken-or-the-egg aspect to it all—and marketers' bad history started the conversation.

But at this point, it's almost hard to know which side is more worthy of a rolling of the eyes, even if both parties mean well. And the Brand Critic-versus-brands debate will likely rage on during future 9/11s.

This happens every year, of course. And from what we've seen, the consumer brands and retail marketers—often the ones to make real-time blunders—are staying relatively quiet today. So the Brand Critics seem to have had an impact over time.

There are a few examples of #NeverForget marketing going on in just about every niche, and Macy's, American Express, Harley-Davidson, Southwest Airlines, Virgin Airlines and Domino sugar are among those tweeters. 

Comparatively, media, sports and celebrity brands have been out in full force.

Check out the marketing tweets we found below. Are they in good taste, or should they have just stayed silent like the critics have been demanding? It's probably in the eye of the beholder. 

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Christopher Heine

Christopher Heine is a New York-based editor and writer.

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