Twelve years after the 9/11 tragedies, some companies felt that enough time had passed to where the date could be used for marketing purposes.
Oops.
Not exactly a good idea.
First, AT&T tweeted a "Never Forget" picture, in reference to the "Tribute in Light" that was done shortly after 9/11, with beams replacing the fallen buildings. That by itself would have been fine, except unfortunately the picture also showcases one of their smartphones very prominently. The message: Remember 9/11, and also buy our phone.
AT&T took the tweet down quickly after ensuing outrage.
The San Diego Marriott Mission Valley hotel attempted what they thought was a nice gesture of offering free muffins to guests on 9/11:
The intent behind this offering was to give a little freebie (in this case, mini muffins) to guests during the approximate 30 minute period when the four planes crashed.
But that's not how it came off.
People mocked the hotel for giving mini-muffins ("Regular muffins are too much for this occasion?"), and the half-hour time frame was especially seen as inappropriate. Why not do it the whole day? Why not at least the entire morning? To force the guests to come down during a short, 30-minute window to get the muffins, in order to mirror the attack times, is pretty stupid.
And then topping both of the above boneheaded marketing attemps, the Tumbletown Trails golf course in Wisconsin offered this offensive promo:
What were these companies thinking?