Reflection on Social Media Case 10: Miracle Mattress Twin Tower Sale

              I don’t care if a tragic event happened yesterday or 17 years ago, it is never okay to capitalized on an event that ripped families a part and caused lasting devastation. This is why I don’t believe that something like this could have “bad timing” because it’s never okay to capitalize on someone else’s pain or sorrow. I don’t understand the motivation behind this sale. Like, why did they have to have a twin tower sale? Why couldn’t they have had a by one get one free twin mattress sale? It doesn’t flow as well as the twin tower sale but I’m sure that if they went with the first option, they would still be in business. The terrorist attack on 9/11 is something that should never be taken lightly.

              Stand up comedian and SNL cast member, Pete Davidson, lost his dad during the 9/11 attacks when he was 7 years old. He often uses this as an anecdote for some of his material. This article is about the most mild representation of Pete talking about his dad that I could find. If you want to see more of his material, I would suggest looking it up on your own. Pete Davidson doesn’t make light of the 9/11 attacks as a whole but focuses on the humor of his own personal connection to it. This is the only situation that I can think of that comes close to being okay of making light of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

              Social media has put people on blast for lesser things than this so it was inevitable that this company would receive backlash after posting this video. In the article shared in the assignment description, the owner of Miracle Mattress stated "Our intentions were not to hurt anyone at all, our staff is full of military and some relatives have passed away due to 9/11. We are promoters of peace and love. We have given abundantly to our community here in San Antonio and wish to remain known as a company who respects and loves others. We hope you find it in your hearts to forgive us. Please accept our apology." They should have been way more sensitive about this issue especially because some of their staff had been affected by the terrorist attacks. In this article, a copy of the company’s official apology is included. I see advertisements like this that make me think “How is it possible that multiple people signed off on the release of that video?” Miracle Mattress definitely didn’t think this one through and they had to learn the hard way that it wasn’t okay.