The 10 Very Worst 9/11-Themed Ads

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Via CopyRanter.

Yesterday, Copyranter caught an advertisement (pictured right) for French weekly Courrier International. The conceit of the advertisement, by Saatchi & Saatchi France, as put by Copyranter: "The World Trade Center architects should have stopped at about 50 floors. Look! The hijacked planes missed the shorter targets. Yay! Viva la Photoshop!" The timing, three days before the ninth anniversary of September 11th, obviously isn't great.

Well, here are 10 ads as bad -- and worse -- than that one:

10. The Moscow News' "Hard to Explain" Print Ad. "Things hard to explain, in a language you understand," the Moscow News advertised in front of a papier-mâché post-crash Twin Towers by advertising giant BBDO. On one hand, it's pretty, and somewhere deep within the tagline is a message about the messy complexities of geopolitics, an idea that flew by the wayside in the wake of 9/11 for too long. On the other hand, it's a 9/11-themed advertisement, and that language apparently has something to do with inflaming old Cold War pissiness, apparently. Not cool, Moscow News.

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Via AdFreak.

9. The CoBis "Motherboard" Print Ad. "Some day your computer might become a target," reads IT solutions company CoBis' cute little chip logo under a mockup of the World Trade Center as part of a motherboard. Except nobody dies when computers get attacked.

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Via Adland.TV.

8. The "Rebuild It" Lego Print Ad. It's Lego, so it's hard to get too angry, but on the other hand, one would think: Of all brands, doesn't Lego know better than to go for the childhood-trauma/construction-toy-obsessed-adult crossover market? Apparently not. The better ad, here, is obviously to make a Lego version of Park51 and note, simply, that "There's less hassle this way." Or something. Still offensive, not tastelessly so, and pretty funny, if I don't say so myself. I should work in advertising. Not cool, Lego.

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Via Adland.TV.

7. MTV Magazine (Brazil) and the World Crisis Campaign Print Ads. Sao Paolo's Age agency is responsible for this series of three public service print ads, the text of which compared the number of deaths on 9/11 to numbers of hunger, poverty, and AIDS. Sure, point taken, but for what still feels like a too-visceral ad in 2010 can't have gone over well with some people in 2003, only two years after 9/11, when the campaign ran. Also, were three different versions really needed for this?

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Via Adland.TV.

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Via Adland.TV.

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Via Adland.TV.