9/11 Exploitation Advertising: Still A Bad Idea

I'm not sure that the 9/11 attacks should ever be used as an advertising hook for anything, but this advertisement for a French newspaper, Courrier International, surely isn't going to win any fans by combining 9/11 iconography with smart-assed self gloating.

Created by Saatchi Saatchi France, the ad takes Courrier's "Learn to anticipate" tagline and imagines a world where if the architects of the World Trade Center had only been smart enough to anticipate the 9/11 attacks -- by making the Twin Towers much shorter -- the events of that day would have simply been a seriocomic scenario in which the hijacked passenger planes "missed" the buildings.

This comes via Copyranter, who include a concise history of 9/11sploitation in advertising. Meanwhile, I live four miles from the Pentagon, so, what funny ha-has do you have for me, Courrier International?

[Hat Tip: Delrayser. Copyranter is a recommended daily read, so bookmark accordingly.]

RELATED:
French newspaper latest to badly exploit 9/11. [Copyranter]

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Comments

[FirstGame72]

07:51 AM on 09/10/2010

This is in terrible taste, thousands of people died and thousands more had their lives effected adversly in a very long term way.
But just a reminder: In "retaliation" the U.S. (which in a constitutional republic means all of us) has turned around and killed and injured hundreds of thousands, perhaps a millions if you count every wounded, INNOCENT CIVILIANS. Is there a country on earth who currently deserves to be lamponed more than the U.S. right now?

[Madagain]

09:48 AM on 09/10/2010

Exactly right. Here in the "Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave", we trashed much of what this country has been admired for. We, under the Bush panic, and fear mongering, have displayed we can be as self serving and arrogant and any other "Great" nation. We can torture and kill people, innocent as well as guilty. We, for years have proclaimed we were seaking to help bring peace to a region where hatred and violence abound. But when struck, we did not bury the hatchet, as we were advising others to do. No, we, in a great panic, and abundant fear, lashed out at entire nations, to punish the acts of a radical group that is known for its hatred.

[FirstGame72]

09:59 AM on 09/10/2010

The worst part, madagain: There doesn't seem to be a number of people we need to kill before we are satisfied. One million, two million innocents - people who had nothing to do with 9/11 (how many children who were not even born yet on 9/11/01 do you think we've killed or injured this year?) we could empty entire countries of their populations in the name of "feeling safe" or "holding the line on terrorism."
At a certain point it SHOULD become clear to all that what our military is doing now has nothing to do with 9/11.

[MelRoy]

03:56 AM on 09/10/2010

OMG, that is truly in poor taste.

[Diane Clehane]

06:55 PM on 09/09/2010

Are they kidding? This is in the worst possible taste. Absolutely appalling.

[amaboss52]

06:20 PM on 09/09/2010

3,000 of our fellow Americans were murdered on 9/11, the only thing that 9/11 should be used for is remembrance of those that perished, our thoughts are with the victims and their survivors. Anything else is crass and callous (Palin/Beck are you listening?).

[RoFerZ]

09:55 AM on 09/10/2010

Not only your fellow Americans... Aside from the approximately 2,669 United States casualties, 310 foreign nationals (excluding the nineteen perpetrators) also perished in the attacks...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_September_11_attacks#World_Trade_Center

[grange]

02:01 PM on 09/09/2010

WTC7 wasnt very tall , wasn't hit be a plane..and still fell.....

[Toddynho]

10:45 AM on 09/08/2010

I think it's great! And I don't think Jason understands the true undercurrent to this which is essentially: " If you can exploit this day for all sorts nefarious chest pounding war mongering religious discrimination causes, then there really is no TOO FAR in exploiting this day. The US set the bar, France is simply following.

[StayClassie]

10:31 AM on 09/08/2010

The exploitation of 9-11 is disgusting.

Check out the website of this sitting city council member who is running for mayor of West Melbourne, Florida :

Bill4mayor.net

He plays a YouTube video showing the twin towers then immediately underneath has a money paper airplane with the tagline: don't let your tax money fly out the window.

Why would he use an airplane to represent taxes when he is showing images of 9-11?

West Melbourne is a Podunk town on the space coast--using this kind imagery to be the mayor of this little town is pure disgusting.

[Aikaterina]

10:26 AM on 09/08/2010

It's neither the size, location nor the symbolism of the WTC that precipitated the attacks of 9/11. Instead, it was the incompetence, lack of focus, and ignorance of prior administrations (Clinton & "W" Bush) to seriously address the threats posed by terrorists. They were too pre-occupied with political-ideological battles (Clinton's impeachment & Bush's neo-con aspirations for imperialism.

We could have potentially averted that disaster, but many policies paved the way for it to happen.
1. Seriously and fairly address the Palestinian-Israeli issues, rather than blind loyalty, lavish aid and no preconditions towards Israel. Most politicians fear the AIPAC, ADF and pro-Zionists more than the terrorists, and will do anything to placate them.
2. Stop funding, training, arming and protecting nations that don't abide by Geneva Conventions, international law, or practice human rights, for the sake of political-economic expediency. We have bases in Saudi Arabia (cousins of Bin-Laden), protecting their oil, wealth, monarchy even as they aid terrorist groups. We caught Hussein within weeks, yet after 9 years Bin-Laden is still at large (the ostensible reason for going to war). We funded Bin-Laden and the Mujahadeen during the Soviet occupation.
3. Stop putting foreign interests ahead of our national security and soverignty. Israel easily manipulates our policies, as do many other Gulf states (UAE, Saudi's, etc.) trying to push us into wars, to eliminate their adversaries for them.
4. Take action when viable threats are present, from credible sources.

[jeremyfive]

10:06 AM on 09/08/2010

911 again? Surely, it's Rudy again. He was the mayer of 911, you know--and if you didn't he'll tell you again.

[Balzac]

09:45 AM on 09/08/2010

Saatchi Saatchi might think this is pretty cute. This is why America must build the tallest skyscrapers. Let Saatchi Saatchi mock us when we build one which dwarfs the Burj Khalifa.

[bmike]

10:57 AM on 09/08/2010

Who will go inside

[Balzac]

11:28 AM on 09/08/2010

Millions of people who aren't bed-wetters.

[Balzac]

11:28 AM on 09/08/2010

I'd take an apartment on the top floor.

[Paros]

09:35 AM on 09/08/2010

Here is another example: http://vimeo.com/14404607
Yesterday my child's school began its annual fundraiser "Boosterthon". If a child raises several hundred dollars then the company will give a backpack to someone in Haiti. This provided a great opportunity for me to explain exploitative advertising to my 9 year old. It is a fairly sophistocated topic for a child to grasp, especially one who still struggles with the difference between a lie and a mistake.

[redglitter]

02:46 PM on 09/10/2010

It's a "give back" campaign. What has Haiti given us that we need to give back? Why arent those two guys doing something for American kids?

[Paros]

03:02 PM on 09/10/2010

why would anyone in Haiti need a nylon backpack?
The two guys are just making a living by pushing fundraisers for schools but how absurd to pretend that american school children are helping Hatian children by raising more money for their own schools.

[american-dolt]

09:19 AM on 09/08/2010

That wouldn't of stopped the Controlled Demolition.

[AnotherTry]

09:52 AM on 09/08/2010

wouldn't HAVE.

[shadowmonk81]

07:36 PM on 09/09/2010

and why is "controlled demolition" capitalized?? Clearly you don't value facts in your news, or your grammar.

[parlimentMike]

09:08 AM on 09/08/2010

Republican politicians have been exploiting this for almost 9 years, all of a sudden it's sacred?

[Toddynho]

10:47 AM on 09/08/2010

That is EXACTLY what I was thinking. This image is use to sell everything from wars to the acceptance of religious discrimination and bigotry, really, no one can sully it anymore than the haters in America.

[Gneirre]

08:56 AM on 09/08/2010

Quick...someone find anything French near the ground zero to protest!!!

[bookon]

09:05 AM on 09/08/2010

Do the strip clubs count?

[Gneirre]

09:08 AM on 09/08/2010

I aspire for at least 2 'coffee spits' a day from reading comments. This was the first. Fanned.

[MelRoy]

03:58 AM on 09/10/2010

Check the labels on the g-strings?

[Toddynho]

10:48 AM on 09/08/2010

hahah! I'm going to check out FOXnation to see if that is what they've already decided. hahaha. You joke....

[hcbrand]

07:40 AM on 09/08/2010

Ha ha. If we had only subscribed to the Courier, 3,000 people wouldn't have perished. Ha ha.

I didn't anticipate how funny that would be, you know, after everyone died.