Some of the biggest spenders in US advertising stayed off the television screens and out of the newspapers yesterday because, as a spokesman for Daimler Chrysler said, "it's not appropriate pitching product that day".
The US advertising industry's leading trade magazine, Advertising Age, captured the mood by pulling its normally upbeat banner advertising on its Web edition and replacing it with a sombre image showing the American flag and the words "In Memoriam 9/11".
Among the corporates who pulled their advertising were Coca-Cola, Sears Roebuck, General Motors, Daimler Chrysler and FedEx. The car companies also encouraged local dealership to show a restrained approach to advertising and selling.
MasterCard normally advertises every day in the "Life" section of newspaper USA Today. This week it kept the space but donated it to the Salvation Army.
Retailers in New York City, who are usually some of the biggest advertisers in the city's daily newspapers, faced a quandary in terms of their advertising planning. In the run up to the day, it was felt that shopping would not be a priority for New Yorkers on the anniversary and many of the bigger stores such as Saks, Macys, Bloomingdales and Brooks Brothers opted to open their doors in the morning two hours later than normal. Most pulled their daily advertisements and Wal-Mart Stores, Kmart and Best Buy pulled their advertising nationwide. To keep in tune with the mood of the city, stores replaced their usual merchandise with flags, memorials or words of remembrance.
Those that did advertise such as Boeing, the New York Stock Exchange and the NY Postal Service showed specially created remembrance-themed advertisements.
In a move that is said to have cost them millions, AOL pulled most of its Web advertising yesterday. The company had originally announced that it would pull all advertising but later pulled back saying that some had to remain for logistical reasons.
"As part of an AOL Time Warner corporate-wide initiative, all commercial ad banners will be pulled from AOL, the Web properties and the Time Warner interactive brands," AOL said in a statement. Replacing them will be "commemorative banners" running from from 5 a.m. September 11th until 5 a.m. the next day "as a sign of respect to all affected by last September's events".
THE front page of the Yahoo site was changed too a muted grey colour, and advertising was removed and replaced with a sombre "We Remember" banner.
Direct marketers where asked by their professional body, the Direct Marketing Association, not to make cold calls to prospective buyers and to suspend e-mail marketing activities. Companies sending out direct mail shots were asked to time their delivery to either the day before September 11th or the day after.
At least one positive advertising campaign has come out of last year's tragedy. In what has been described as the biggest donation of pro bono media space, a coalition of media concerns have come together to create a blood donor campaign for the Red Cross. The simple black and white ads feature the Red Cross's tag line, 1 800 Give Life, and, unusually in a pro bono situation, does not feature the logo of the sponsoring partners.
Microsoft led the media programme, signing up both national and local media for the campaign, which will run until the first week of October.
