Advertisers to steer clear of 9/11

NEW YORK, Sept 10, 2002 Reuters is reported that media outlets from television stations to the giant video screens of Times Square will be commercial-free Wednesday on the anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, with marketers desperate not to appear as if they are cashing in on tragedy.

There are, however, a few notable exceptions, such as children's television programs and commercials from the New York Stock Exchange.

"With kids' programming, advertisers are staying in, saying, We should make the TV experience for smaller children the same as any other day," said Mark Stewart, executive vice president of strategy and channel planning for media buyer Universal McCann.

After the attacks last year, a number of companies ran TV and newspaper ads that evoked September 11, including General Motors'"Keep America Rolling" ads that offered zero percent financing.

Such overt references are unlikely this year.

"Last year there was some 9/11-themed advertising, and what came out was generally looked at as pretty tasteless," said Stewart. "People's minds are on other things -- it's not appropriate to be asking someone to decide what product to buy or where they should be shopping."

The 30-second spot from the NYSE, located a few blocks from the World Trade and shut down for several days after September 11, is narrated by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

"Every day, a bell rings," Giuliani says in the ad over shots of city landmarks, firefighters and policemen. "A city awakes, a workday begins, a market opens and the world gets down to business, all because every day a bell rings. Let freedom ring."

The commercial debuted this weekend and will run for several weeks, including on September 11.

"There are very few companies or organizations that can offer thanks like we can," said Robert Zito, executive vice president for communications at the NYSE. "We see it as a tribute to the city and its heroes from all its walks of life."

In New York's Times Square, the world's most prominent outdoor advertising venue, many video screens will be devoted solely to noncommercial messages.

The oversize ABC and Panasonic screens will carry broadcasts of the city's official ceremonies, the Kodak sign will display images from "The Brotherhood," a book about the city's firefighters, and the Reuters building will display a memorial to its slain employees along with photos from a year ago.

A few companies are signing on to help fund 9/11-themed shows. Mobile phone firm Nextel will sponsor CBS' "9/11" special, which will run without commercial interruptions, and Boeing is underwriting NBC's broadcast of "Concert for America."

Other companies are interrupting new campaigns to avoid advertising on the 11th. FedEx is launching a new set of commercials, the latest in its "business legends" campaign, on Tuesday, but will stay clear of the airwaves Wednesday.

Newspapers, which ran a number of full-page corporate ads in the days after the attacks, said they have not seen a similar surge in spots this year.

"It appears that some retailers have moved their business to other days of the weeks, and that's about it," said Donald Stinson, vice president for advertising at the newspaper division of Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper company and publisher of USA Today.

Unlike last year, when the September 11 attacks dragged down advertising spending for months afterward, media buyers expect marketers to get back to advertising on September 12. The possibility that September 11 will forever be an advertising-free day seems remote.

"It's back to business the day after -- the economy was hurt enough last year," said Universal McCann's Stewart.