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BenQ uses 9/11 for advertising campaign.. caution sensitive image

aside from the advert in question...

it's actually a pretty nifty looking player
it looks like a dog tag.. and has the headphones incorporated into the chain.
styleesh.
i didn't even notice that the kid has it around his neck, i thought those were just actual dog tags.
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Maybe they meant to say "belie". Of course, that would make it an even worse advert.
 
Maybe they meant to write "Asia exploits injured America for great profit. All white deaths worth increase for MP3 player sales." but realised that they didn't have to since droves of hypersensitive wackos and their misplaced sentiments would jump to that conclusion ANYWAY.

Jump, little lemons! Jump for papa!
 
4nr- said:
do some research before you start pointing fingers...

http://www.benq.com.cn/musiq/

Its obviously not 9/11, you need to get over it theres worse things going on on this planet. This sort of advertisement at least creates awareness, you should look at some other things with a critical perspective and not just 9/11.
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Read about it HERE

The intention is obviously to bring to mind the tragic current world events and although the image may have been doctored somewhat it's evident who the market is aimed at. The image BenQ uses is aimed at a specific market and uses plays on people's emotions by presenting an identifiable image.

Frankly I think this type of advertising is disgusting..

There's more to life than a making money based on people's emotions!!
 
actually, the more i think about it... this may have been a complete publicity stunt, disguised to look like a designer's mistake/oversight/ignorance.

doing a search on google about this, there are many other threads discussing the very same thing... and we are all now very aware of this mp3 player, and it's website.
 
Allotriophagy said:
Maybe they meant to write "Asia exploits injured America for great profit. All white deaths worth increase for MP3 player sales." but realised that they didn't have to since droves of hypersensitive wackos and their misplaced sentiments would jump to that conclusion ANYWAY.

Jump, little lemons! Jump for papa!
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If they'd had an image of people running from the tanks in Tiananmen Square, I'm sure a lot of people would be jumping in a different fashion but I'd still be appalled at the senseless and tasteless advertising.
 
x86isslow said:
If that is WTC in the background, then yah, that's pretty poor taste. But are they selling that in Saudi Arabia or in NYC?

Also, how did you know that was WTC and not some random ruined building?
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C'mon, that is DEFINITELY the WTC ruins. There is no doubt this is a play off of 9/11. What loosers.
 
bousozoku said:
If they'd had an image of people running from the tanks in Tiananmen Square, I'm sure a lot of people would be jumping in a different fashion but I'd still be appalled at the senseless and tasteless advertising.
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Those people would be Westerners, not the Chinese.
 
4nr- said:
It is obviously not, it's not even close to the pictures we saw and I can guarantee you it's not meant to confuse. If this advertisement was meant to be interpreted the way you interpret it, it would be bad taste. But the fact is it's not. What is bad taste is the Hollywood reproductions of the events of 9/11 which are based on little or even no facts, these are fundamentally only about money and serve to strengthen American nationalistic feelings.
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Dude, I know you are from sweeden, but what makes you the authority on WTC images? How can you say it is obviously not and not even close to the WTC images? What the hell were you looking at?
 
dornoforpyros said:
Is using this image anymore offensive than using Ghandi to sell computers?

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To us, probably not. But I'm pretty sure these people are pretty powerful images in other cultures besides our own.
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Ghandi liberated India from British rule without a single life being lost. Apple's message is one of hope and humanity. I can't see it being fairly compared against the BenQ ad, which is just tasteless in my opinion.
 
spicyapple said:
Ghandi liberated India from British rule without a single life being lost. Apple's message is one of hope and humanity. I can't see it being fairly compared against the BenQ ad, which is just tasteless in my opinion.
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Why not? Both are exploiting powerful events/images for profit. Put aside your warm fuzzy feelings for apple for a minute and ask yourself. "Would Ghandi appreciate his image being used to sell computers?" not apple computers, not with the cute little "think different" tagline. But just as I asked "Would Ghandi appreciate his image being used to sell computers?" Something tells me the guy wasn't huge on the mass produced consumer goods.

Apple is a business, and businesses are about profit, you may view this as apple "honoring" Ghandi in this manner, but let's replace apple with Microsoft and see how you feel about it.

anyways this thread bores me now, but to reiterate my opinion
1) Yes, it is in fact WTC, the photos show this without a doubt.
2) Even if BenQ new exactly what the image was, the fact remains the ad was not intended for the western market and there for they have no explaining to do because you can't please everyone all the time. And trying to run an ad through everyones "I find that offensive" meter is impossible.
3) I'd totally buy that dogtag style MP3 player if it was available here :)
 
Bern said:
How tasteless for BenQ to use 9/11 for their newest advertising campaign. It seems these days people will go to any lengths to make a buck.

They should be ashamed of themselves.
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that is pretty bad, and i would hate to be a person who was affected by the tragedy, it's a disgrace using that image, why use it, it'd be like a company using a picture of the blood stained walls in london where the bus exploded in the background to sell a product, it's a disgrace, i don't think it will be long before they issue an apology and withdraw the advert
 
spicyapple said:
Ghandi liberated India from British rule without a single life being lost. Apple's message is one of hope and humanity. I can't see it being fairly compared against the BenQ ad, which is just tasteless in my opinion.
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Well, that's actually what I thought when I saw the Benq ad the first time. I saw it as 'The WTC event was a terrible tragedy.. and although it shocked all of us, almost to a state of depression.. it also strenghtened our hope and our recovery'

I think thats what Benq were trying to imply from this ad.. about belief that can unite people in the face of disaster.. and not really the disaster itself. Maybe they should have put that explanation in fine print somewhere on the ad so people wouldn't get so riled.
 
dornoforpyros said:
Why not?
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Whether or not using images of Gandhi or Quang Duc is proper is beside the point. Those images could very well be offensive to some people, but I think we can all pretty much agree that they aren't nearly as controversial as using an image of a destroyed WTC to plug your product. The images portray massively different things and it's not a fair comparison.
 
aquajet said:
Whether or not using images of Gandhi or Quang Duc is proper is beside the point. Those images could very well be offensive to some people, but I think we can all pretty much agree that they aren't nearly as controversial as using an image of a destroyed WTC to plug your product. The images portray massively different things and it's not a fair comparison.
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so let me see if I've got this right, when your offending "some people" it's ok, but when your offending YOU PEOPLE it's in horrible taste?

Why are your feelings more valid than those of the people of india? Or the feelings of chinese monks?

Let's put another spin on this (I know, i lied when I said I was bored with this tread). Some Muslims feel that woman should have their faces covered because if they are not than the woman are going against their very beliefs and religion. Should all ads running in America feature woman in Muslim headdresses? For all you or I know the image of a woman's face is just as offensive to some Muslims as images of 911 are to us.
 
ephica said:
it's actually a pretty nifty looking player
it looks like a dog tag.. and has the headphones incorporated into the chain.
styleesh.
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Bingo... that's exactly what the marketeers were hoping for. For every thousand people who are shouting about this ad, maybe a couple will actually check out the mp3 player being advertised.

All of the outraged patriots out there are just puppets on a string... dancing to some ad agency's music.
 
dornoforpyros said:
so let me see if I've got this right, when your offending "some people" it's ok, but when your offending YOU PEOPLE it's in horrible taste?

Why are your feelings more valid than those of the people of india? Or the feelings of chinese monks?
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Straw man. That's not what I said at all. I'm merely asserting that most people would probably consider using an image depicting mass murder to sell your product a little bit more controversial than the others you posted.

Besides, is there anybody here that's offended by Apple using Gandhi in their "Think Different" campaign? It's an honest question.
 
mojohanna said:
C'mon, that is DEFINITELY the WTC ruins. There is no doubt this is a play off of 9/11. What loosers.
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Dude, not everyone worships the images of 9/11 every day. C'mon or otherwise, its not immediately obvious to people who aren't from lower Manhattan that the image is of the WTC.

And perhaps you mean "losers".
 
spicyapple said:
Ghandi liberated India from British rule without a single life being lost.
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That's overstating things a lot. Gandhi's message was non-violent demonstration, yes, however, the British killed many many many people during those demonstrations.
 
spicyapple said:
Ghandi liberated India from British rule without a single life being lost. Apple's message is one of hope and humanity. I can't see it being fairly compared against the BenQ ad, which is just tasteless in my opinion.
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I would argue the BenQ ad is one of hope and humanity also...simply that despite all the horrible things that happen in the world, that art/music and personal expression survive.

aquajet said:
I agree. Plus, Quang Duc's was an act of self-immolation. It's really hard to compare those to mass murder.
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I actually think the immolation pic is the least offensive, since Rage's music encourages political thought and action.
 
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