Using 9/11 as a Marketing Tool
Since the terrorist attacks on the US last September, advertisers have been
using the tragedy to sell their products. For example, recent billboards
from fashion designer Kenneth Cole say, “On September 12, people who
don’t speak to their parents forgot why...Life is not a dress rehearsal.”
But Dr. Susan Turner, who teaches business ethics at UVic, says this response
to national tragedy isn’t new. She says since the Second World War,
the celebration of patriotism, which is arguably at the basis of 9/11 type
marketing, has been a very successful marketing tool. “In the September
11, 1944 issue of Life Magazine, Kodak used the slogan “Kodak Recordak
System safeguards the virtual records of everyone’s life.” In
that same issue, the Florida Citrus Commission advertised its grapefruit
juice with, “These are the days of Victory Vitamin C!” Such promotional
gimmicks may strike us as distasteful, but it would be difficult to show
they are unethical.” The sense there is something more deeply wrong
with such advertisements is likely strongest among those who do not identify
with the values they express. Turner says consumers will tend to buy products
or services they associate strongly with a cherished value, solving a primal
problem or calming a deep worry. All advertising exploits this fact about
the consumer mind.
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