Patriotic marketing responses to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have come in a variety of ways, some tastefully and others a little exploitatively. On the positive side, that “Let Freedom Ring” TV spot from the New York Stock Exchange, which was directly and dramatically affected by the events of that day, seems wholly appropriate — even inspirational.
On the negative, one that especially rubbed me the wrong way arrived in an Oct. 1 press release from US Magnetix and JDK Products, which combined their expertise to create magnetic American flags “to patriotically decorate vehicles.”
The seven-inch by 12-inch items are available in Home Depot and other stores at the suggested retail price of $7.99. A full 10-percent of profits — not of sales, mind you — will be donated to World Trade Center disaster-relief organizations.
Those fabric flags so many citizens have been hanging inside and outside their cars in a spontaneous and genuine display of emotion? They “certainly grab attention, but may be a danger to driver visibility or other traffic,” the release warns.
High demand won’t be an issue, it promises, because the companies are ready to manufacture around the clock to keep up with it.
“This is about getting back to work and helping rekindle the American spirit,” the release proclaims. If you consider anything-for-a-buck entrepreneurism part of the American spirit (and I suppose we should), then I guess that statement is correct.
It is well within anybody’s rights to sell an American flag — whenever, wherever, however. But you shouldn’t necessarily try to drape one around yourself in the process.
Let freedom ring, indeed.
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