Turning The Appalling Into The Despicable

from the bad-taste dept

We already spoke about the bad decision of spammers to send out spam trying to take advantage of last week's tragedy, but how about real companies doing so? I've heard rumors about a Cisco employee who sent a note to resellers telling them this was a chance to sell more routers to replace the lost ones and of Gannett newspapers using the chance to get in touch with their best advertisers to offer a message of sympathy - and a reminder to buy more ads. The latest is Flowgo who sent out a general message to everyone on their mailing lists about the tragedy. They say they were trying to do good by sending out an inspirational message, but there was a marketing/PR pitch included in the email - which made some people upset.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    clous, 18 Sep 2001 @ 7:48pm

    PR tricks and stuff

    what about all of the full-page ads in the wall street journal from various companies? totally pr pitches. i've got lots of such emails, including one from morgan stanley. however, i take most of them as being thoughtful. i don't mind them. i don't think there's anything wrong though with most of this, unless you are blatantly trying to sell something or trying to deceive someone. however, what I would like to see is these companies promising to help...something that read "and our company, _____________, inc., has made an effort to help through donating $_______ million to the _______________ (red cross, etc.). These monies were wired __________________ (yesterday, today). turn the PR into something positive, really help people and don't just say your are sorry and saddened, oh corporate cheifs of America. God Bless.

    -Clous

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    MonaLisaOverdrive, 19 Sep 2001 @ 7:36am

    It May Sound Cynical

    but I'm clocking the timer to find out which
    company will be the first to use the tragedy
    in a commercial pitch
    . My bets for the top finalists?
    Nokia, Motorola, AT&T and Ameritech

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.