Bad Idea: Wisconsin golf course's $9.11 offer for 9/11 hits a nerve on social media

[boogielicious]

Saw this in the news.  Not a cool way to advertise.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/10/us/wisconsin-9-11-golf-ad-hits-nerve/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1

[Slice of Life]

Sorry, I disagree...at this point, yes, it was a horrible tragedy, but it was 12 years ago. Time to move on. I know I'm in the minority with that opinion, but it is what it is. How is that different from some Country singer writing a song about it to turn a profit? He's heralded for profiting off of it though. It would be one thing if they did this in 2002.

Obviously the people it personally affected (lost a loved one, etc.,) will see it differently, as they should, but as far as the rest of us, I think it's time to move on. Not forget, but finally move on.

I know I'll get flamed for that, but it's just one man's opinion.

[Slice of Life]

As one of the comments states, we have no issue with memorial day sales, right? The difference is, the memorial day ad could be displayed the day after a parent loses their child in Afghanistan. That's worse IMO.

[Dave2512]

Another way of looking at it is if terrorism is intended to disrupt and undermine the way we live in the US a day on the course is a big giant middle finger to all that practice it.

[nevets88]

I worked in WTC 1 and this is just in bad taste, but like what I said about the MLK tweet, like Memorial Day sales, it's tacky, hyper-commercialist, I'll make my opinion known about it and move on.

[jsp9999]

Just joined.  Bad taste regardless of logic.  If they said they will donate $9.11 to a cause and charge $19.99, that could have been better.

[newtogolf]

Businesses as a general rule shouldn't try to profit off of a tragedy or loss of lives but as Slice of Life stated, we regularly see Memorial Day weekend sales and don't react negatively towards those businesses that advertise them.

What I find most distasteful in the ad is the pricing (9.11 and 19.11) seems the golf course should have rethought the use of those numbers and just left it at $10 and $20.

[Maddog10]

I'm with you Slice. This isn't a big deal to me, and I consider myself to be a very patriotic individual. They aren't saying it wasn't a tragedy, or that we shouldn't reflect on the day and remember those that were lost. To me it just seems like they are saying hey, instead of moping around all day, come play golf with us and we'll give you a discounted rate as we remember this day.

Death threats?!? I mean come on, that's ridiculous. People often confuse mourning and caring as the same thing. They believe that if you aren't still visibly upset 12 years after the event, that you have forgotten and don't care anymore. That couldn't be farther than the truth.

With that said, I'll take two sets of 9 holes for $18.22 instead of 18 holes for $19.11. Their logic seems pretty dumb as far as that goes.

[nevets88]

People do think Memorial Day sales are tacky. Just Google Memorial Day Sales Tacky. It's been so much a regular part of the year that most people are inured to it. Death threats - that's of course too much, just shake your head and move  on.

[sacm3bill]

I'm with you Slice. This isn't a big deal to me, and I consider myself to be a very patriotic individual. They aren't saying it wasn't a tragedy, or that we shouldn't reflect on the day and remember those that were lost. To me it just seems like they are saying hey, instead of moping around all day, come play golf with us and we'll give you a discounted rate as we remember this day.

Yeah, that's how I took it as well. The rates they're offering are over 50% off of the regular rates, so it seems they're losing money on this, not "profiting from a tragedy". They just wanted to commemorate the day.

It was probably a PR error to just give a discount instead of charging the regular rate and donating the difference to some charity or foundation (in fact they have since said that they will honor the discount *and* donate the difference to the 9/11 memorial fund), but neither one seems in bad taste to me.

[Meltdwhiskey]

I'm not offended by this.  But I'm not offended by much.  I guess everyone has their own threshold, but I think as a society we get offended by nearly everything. It has become offended overkill.

[GangGreen]

I throw it in the "poor taste" category at best. I lost a very close friend that day who worked in the WTC. Funny, he was the person who turned me on to golf in the first place way back when. Great guy, the kind of person who just went out of his way to make everyone feel welcomed...miss him big time, prayers to his family on this day!

[jamo]

They did a bit about this last night on ESPN last night: [VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdB0kgkyGyA[/VIDEO] It's a solid piece, if only because I get the chills every time I hear that Griffey story retold. When it aired live they had video of that, but it was replaced with vague pictures for YouTube. I'll say only that I don't like seeing the remembrance of a tragedy reduced to hashtags by corporations just looking to drum up press and tacky Facebook statuses that half of my friends seem to feel the need to post. Look up comedian Joe Mande's Twitter feed today if you want to know what I mean.

[boogielicious]

I don't get bothered by it, but I think the backlash will probably hurt their reputation.

[butt3r3dt0ast]

I'm with you Slice. This isn't a big deal to me, and I consider myself to be a very patriotic individual. They aren't saying it wasn't a tragedy, or that we shouldn't reflect on the day and remember those that were lost. To me it just seems like they are saying hey, instead of moping around all day, come play golf with us and we'll give you a discounted rate as we remember this day.

Death threats?!? I mean come on, that's ridiculous. People often confuse mourning and caring as the same thing. They believe that if you aren't still visibly upset 12 years after the event, that you have forgotten and don't care anymore. That couldn't be farther than the truth.

With that said, I'll take two sets of 9 holes for $18.22 instead of 18 holes for $19.11. Their logic seems pretty dumb as far as that goes.

I was going to say about the same thing Maddog. Good interpretation.

[Meltdwhiskey]

Kind of interesting: http://www.theawl.com/2013/09/the-911-collector

I guess that course isn't the only one to jump in.  I didn't read the whole article, but a few intersting 911 themed items:

Golf Balls

Bin Laden Target Golf Balls

Makers Mark Whiskey

Barbie

Toy Trucks

Tissues

Silverware

Bottle of Merlot priced at $19.11

[Chris223]

but I think as a society we get offended by nearly everything

This.  It is almost reaching a point of insanity what offends some people in this country.  A joke.

[sacm3bill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meltdwhiskey

but I think as a society we get offended by nearly everything

This.  It is almost reaching a point of insanity what offends some people in this country.  A joke.

Yeah... I'm probably too insensitive in general, but by the same token there are a lot of people who are *overly* sensitive.  (Unfortunately most overly sensitive people feel their amount of sensitivity is exactly the right amount, so anything less is insensitive.)