So BenQ, the Taiwanese computer hardware manufacturer is taking some flak for their advertisement that uses the crumbled ruins of the World Trade Center as a background. They’re selling an MP3 player, by the way.
Aside from the obvious misspelling, the ad campaign is clearly in bad taste. It’s profiting from a tragedy. There have been plenty of people who have profited from that day, though. The news media went nuts over it. There have been plenty of books written about it. And I doubt that Oliver Stone will be donating the profits of his WTC film to 9/11 widows. There was even a series of tacky Franklin Mint coins made to commemorate the day. The biggest problem that people seem to have with the WTC ad is that it was made outside of America.
Outrage aside, the funniest and most true comment made about the ad is this:
doug @ Dec 1st 2006 6:49PM
yeah, that ain’t right. After all, they already used 9/11 to sell us one unnecessary war.
As opposed to jumping into the politically correct bandwagon and being offended by something that clearly isnt the first thing that makes money off a tragedy (there clearly isnt nearly as much bitching about World War movies or anything that involves real events in which innocent people were killed), I’ll say that I’m not very impressed with the design and the attempt at connecting hope, the ruins, and an mp3 player, let alone the marketing.
Even with the wildest explanations for how and why they ended up using the WTC picture, it still doesnt sit right. But being that they were trying to sell this to an audience thats clearly gonna be touchy about having the picture of the WTC….well that was kinda foolish. Then again, if they were alien to the proper spelling of the word believe, then i wouldnt be surprised if they didnt think the picture of the WTC was going to be offensive. Chalk it up to cultural differences? Why not? It’s entirely possible. If an American company did this, then that wouldve been a completely different story.
But it still doesnt want to make me buy their MP3 player.
Yeah I never said it was good! I’m just amused by the uproar. The ad is clearly not intended for the American market, but because the Internet is everywhere, everyone gets to see it.
Hmm I guess they clued in. https://www.benq.com.cn/musiq/
I must say that I was expecting a lengthy reply explaining why i was wrong, even though I know you were more amused with the outrage than offended by the image 😛
But they took it down though, did you see their statement over at http://www.benq.com.cn/musiq ?
my fingers would get le tired writing down all the reasons you’re wrong! 😛 and yes, i saw the statement, which is why i linked it in a comment.
My bad, I was already typing my linkage comment while you posted yours 😛
amusing!