How Should Brands Remember 9/11 in Social Media?

The events of Sept. 11, 2001, have left scars on the United States, and indeed the entire world.  And it is only natural to respond to those intense feelings every year on what is now observed as Patriot Day. The question then becomes: What is the appropriate way for companies and organizations to respond?

AT&T made what is considered one of the worst branded tweets on 9/11 in 2013 when they posted an image showing a phone being held up to take a photo of the pillars of light rising up from the site of the original Twin Towers. (It seemed just a bit too much like product placement.)

The post was widely mocked and criticized on Twitter; the following day AT&T gave a full-throated apology:

We’re big believers that social media is a great way to engage with our customers because the conversation is constant, personal and dynamic.

Yesterday, we did a post on social media intended to honor those impacted by the events of 9/11. Unfortunately, the image used in the post fell woefully short of honoring the lives lost on that tragic day.

I want to personally express to our customers, employees, and all those impacted by the events of 9/11 my heartfelt apologies. I consider that date a solemn occasion each year, a time when I reach out to those I was with on that awful day, share a moment of reflection for the lives lost and express my love of country. It is a day that should never be forgotten and never, ever commercialized. I commit AT&T to this standard as we move forward.

Journalist Megh Wright collected a number of examples this year of images appropriate and not, starting with these two.  Are Betty Boop and a flat pizza from a pizza shop appropriate commemoration or exploitative?

I like Funko figures as much as the next guy, but I’m sure I understand the connection between this image and 9/11. (Yes, I know the flag is flying at half staff.)

And I’m really not sure about images of Before, During and After images of the World Trade Center painted on guitars. (Actually, I’m quite sure about them…)

Fast Company had a good analysis of the problem. Companies that send out too blatant of messages can be accused of exploiting people’s feelings about this tragedy, while ignoring the day while going on with your usual twitter feed can open your organization to charges that you just don’t care. The best posts were “neutral — a flag, a solemn photo from the say, a meaningful graphic. Absent were cheap tie-ins and corporate logos imposed over September 11 imagery.”