Wal-Mart Blasted for Insensitive 9/11 Display

Wal-Mart has joined the list of tone-deaf companies using the upcoming anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks to sell products. At a store in Panama City Beach, Florida, a display was built out of soda to resemble the towers and above it, a message read: “We Will Never Forget.” Upset consumers took to Twitter to voice their displeasure.

Hey @Walmart , pretty sure you can move your product without having to use 9/11 as the push... C'mon.. :/ pic.twitter.com/pZZrfsUzlk

— Chaos (@Chaosxsilencer) September 9, 2016

Two jobs open today. One at @CocaCola for this display idea to honor 9-11. And the mgr at @Walmart that approved it pic.twitter.com/dtGKcLr2Zh

— Bert Weiss (@BertShowBert) September 8, 2016

Total Retail’s Take: Trying to incorporate a national tragedy into your marketing tends not to be a good idea. We’ve seen it before with other brands like AT&T and Build-A-Bear — they both tweeted out photos then quickly deleted them when followers got offended. It’s proven time and again to be a terrible idea for brands to promote themselves on a day like Sept. 11, so just don’t do it.