I know I am not alone in this . . . It seems that the Gods of Real Estate have decreed that many of their minions go from town to town, planting little plastic American flags on peoples’ lawns, skewering a business card, with said Realtor grinning apishly from it.
I snagged one of the cards from my own lawn and am thinking of E’ing this:
“I am one of the many recipients of small American flags, which you skewered into everyone’s front lawn in our town over the July 4th weekend, along with a business card and a note as to what days we should ‘proudly wave your flag.’ Now, I’m as patriotic as the next person—you may have noticed two flags already flying at our house. But I find your kind of ‘patriotism’ to be the height of impudence. Had you put out flags on peoples’ lawns anonymously, or quietly donated funds to some patriotic cause, I’d have no gripe with you. But your flag-blanketing is nothing more than a sales push, a way of saying, ‘Look how American I am—buy from ME!’ The worst kind of sanctimonious and, literally, hypocritical flag-waving. I trust we are safe from your dropping creches on our lawns at Christmas, or plastic bunnies at Easter?”
What do you think? Am I overreacting and just looking for something to get annoyed about? I have been known to do this, of course . . .
I agree with you, Eve. Had it been my yard, I wouldn’t mind (too much) if they had just planted the flag, or dropped off the flyer. Putting both together is tacky. It reminds me of the fundies that put an ichthus in their advertising or logos.
I select a realtor, or any other businessman, based primarily on how well they do the job.
I don’t buy anything from businesses that use the flag to try to sell me something if I can at all avoid it. I have my own reasons for this, but suffice to say I find it disgusting and manipulative at best.
You could also convert to Santeria and on a holiday peculiar to that religious practice you could sacrifice a goat on her front lawn. “So that you may receive the many blessings and fruitful bounty that is represented by this living sacrifice, I leave you with these goat entrails and this eviscerated carcass. Happy Holidays!”
I do this too, for what it’s worth (not much.) I wish you could post their e-mail address; I’d like the name of a decent realtor and they might know one.
IANAL…but violation of the flag code doesn’t seem to me to be a “violation of Federal law”…or one hell of a lot of merchandisers (and newspapers) are in big heapin’ trouble for the kind of ads they run on July 4th.
(FWIW, I think the realtor flag ad is a bit tacky for my taste)
Except that the U.S. Code is Federal law, and the flag code is part of the U.S. Code. So a violation of the flag code is in fact a violation of Federal law.
That doesn’t mean there are whopping penalties for such violations. It’s also a violation of Federal law not to fill out your Census form. The penalty on the books for that one is a $100 fine, and nobody’s been fined for that offense in decades. I expect flag code violations have similar penalties, and are enforced with similar thoroughness. But prospective customers can certainly remind the realtors that the law says they shouldn’t be using the flag in this way.
Yup, you’re right, it’s a “federal law” in name. In meaning (and in the context of telling someone that they are “violating” a federal law), not so much…
(bolding mine)
In terms of what most folks think of when told that something is “against the law”…this ranks below the “no squaredancing after dark in Buttmunch, Idaho” kind of laws.
Like I originally said, I think the use of flags lin this context is tacky. Using the stick of “federal law” just seems out of proportion.
Pretty much, that’s why the zoning code I’m writing limits the height of flagpoles. The claim from an auto dealer that the house-sized cloth flying from a 100 foot tall pole in in the name of patriotism is probably as true as everything else they tell me.
As a former resident of Buttmunch (pop. 16, including livestock), I must take issue with this remark.
There is a very good reason for that law. Back in the late 1800’s (when our population was nearly double) the quaint townsfolk were celebrating the Third Annual Squaredance And Hog-calling Festival. Due to a dispute between the judges over what exactly contituted a hog-call, the squaredancing portion was late getting started. It was well after dark when the entire town started promenading down Main Street and trampled poor ol’ Gimpy McGillis to death. They couldn’t see him passed out drunk in the middle of the road. The town council passed a law the next day forbidding all nocturnal fancy-footing. And since they still haven’t gotten electricity yet, it’s still on the law books.
Oh yeah, and I agree with Eve there. Tacky, tacky, tacky. Better to pack all those flags into a house-sized crate and drop it on ObL.
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