Cashing in on 9/11? Hucksterism has a long history in America
Lee Gomes writes about the commercialization of 9/11 in this Wall Street Journal story (subscription required):
One feels vaguely guilty for even raising the topic of all this cashing in on Sept. 11. The way we like to tell the story, 9/11 was a crucible from which we emerged as a stronger, better country. But hucksterism has a long history in America. It's the flip side of our go-go, can-do culture.
Spend some time flipping through magazines from the 1940s, and you'll start to think that WWII wasn't a war as much as an opportunity for combat-themed product placements. An orange growers' ad in an old National Geographic shows a drawing of a GI Joe ferociously lobbing a hand grenade; the caption describes the debt this battlefield vigor owes to "Victory Vitamin C."
If the Greatest Generation could use Guadalcanal to sell orange juice, can't we use the destruction of the World Trade Center to sell plastic containers and TV reruns? Some would say it's the American way!
There are so many 9/11-related press releases out there, you can easily find two that can be paired for tragicomic effect. A release from Winchell's says it will give free doughnuts on Wednesday to uniformed emergency workers. Another from the American Institute for Cancer Research notes that many Americans are "struggling to lose weight gained after attacks by exercising more, eating lighter."