Why Don't You Just Sell Pictures of the Bodies?

The BBQ Pit
1

Its amazing, it really is. I suppose that its inevitable that we’d have people trying to profit off 9/11 butthis is positively fucking hideous!! Not to mention I can’t fathom any reason why anyone would want something like this, other than to demonstrate the sheer level of tackiness human beings will stoop to.

Bet it’d go great with one of those new Abercrombie & Fitch thongs for 11 year old girls. :rolleyes:

Our beloved Zenster is the one who pointed this out to me and has fired off a couple of e-mails to the Austrailian and Chinese Embassies on the matter. At his request I’m posting one of them here:

LETTER to the AUSTRALIAN LEGATE to the UNITED STATES

To Allan Rocher,

The recent retail sale by your country’s Quick Brown Fox fashion stores of handbags depicting the 9/11 horrors is a new all-time low in mass marketing. For more information concerning this subject, please follow the links provided:

CNN.com - Handbags depicting terrorist attack on trade center sold in Australia - May 22, 2002

or cut and paste this URL into your browser:

http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/auspac/05/22/attacks.handbags.ap/index.html

If you wish to avoid a veritable FIRESTORM of criticism and complaint I urge you on the strongest possible terms to immediately and loudly renounce such dastardly capitalisation upon one of worst atrocities in recent history.

Until I see such an announcement by your government and its representatives here in the United States I will refuse to buy any Australian goods whatsoever.

I am a devout capitalist and a staunch defender of artistic freedoms. HOWEVER THERE ARE LIMITS AND THIS IS ONE OF THEM. The horrid nature of this atrocity commands a mute response from those who would seek to profit from any ancillary aspect of such mass murder in any way shape or form. Rest assured that I am well aware of the ongoing litigation in my own country over the last words of one of the heroes who assisted in the overtaking of the Pennsylvania jetliner. Do not think for one instant that I am any less mortified with such blood thirsty lunacy masked as business going on in my own country.

Your country owes the United States an abject apology. Quick Brown Fox must do their best to destroy all remaining inventory and sever its ties with the scabrous Communist Chinese firm responsible for such an outright slap in the face to all survivors of this tragedy and the American people as a whole.

The complete lack of good judgment and reprehensible taste demonstrated by this enterprise in your own country takes me aback. I can only find this to be a hypocritical insult of the highest order to your own worthy troops who are risking their lives on Afghan soil in pursuit of the Al Quaeda terrorists who perpetrated this disgustingly murderous conspiracy.

I expect a personal reply from your offices and if one is not forthcoming it will forever harm my perception of what I once thought was your wonderful country.

With Great Revulsion,

Zenster

2

Sorry, our country does not owe your country an apology.

The owner of QBF owes someone an apology, but I don’t think it fair that you blame the whole country for one fuck-knuckles stupidity.

3

But it’s not Tuckerfan doing the blaming, it’s Zenster. And if you’ve seen many of Zenster’s posts, you know how hyperbolic he can be.

4

OK, I’m checking out this story NOW looking for who owns the company and whether it is as Australian based as it seems on the service to be (google returned a couple of OS media stories and that’s it).

If it DOES turn out to be true (and I’m surprised our local media isn’t all over it if that’s the case), then there are better places to complain to than our Embassy and I’ll be happy to post their email addresses here.

Give me an hour or two to do some research on this one.

5

I have an email address for those people who wish to complain to the company involved. Yes, I have been in contact by phone with the company and confirmed that they are the same company referred to in the media articles. As I suspected, they are located in Melbourne in the trendy “ladies who lunch” suburbs, and in Sydney their outlet is in Oxford Street (again, trendy and expensive).

The email address is quickbrownfox@ozemail.com.au.

I won’t post the phone numbers of the company’s stores here (if only because you’ll get through to some underpaid sales rep who doesn’t deserve your anger).

Please direct your outrage about this at the company concerned and not at public servants who are powerless to do anything about it.

6

Fuck off. Don’t you think you’re going a little overboard? Okay, Quick Brown Fox didn’t make the best inventory choice with that line of bags, but do you seriously think that one company is a reflection on the whole of Australia?

So, why don’t you go lobby our Parliament to push through legislation that the government gets to decide what our storekeepers can and can’t sell in their own businesses. :rolleyes:

7

I was really hoping, by posting the email address of the company involved, to avoid any kind of Aussie vs US slanging match about this…

FWIW, I’m trying to track down the contact details for the manufacturers also.

I know it isn’t much consolation to those people in the US who feel outraged by this, but we are talking a few boutiques in super affluent suburbs owned by one woman. Your average Aussie does not shop in these suburbs (they couldn’t afford to), and the irony is that this woman is probably discussing those “awful terrorists” over a chardonnay with other “ladies who lunch” while she’s making her profits.

I’m not impressed either, but these kinds of boutiques don’t really give a crap if they offend people who could never afford to shop there in the first place.

Please, Aussies, don’t over-react to the OP.

8

Sick though this is, we need to preserve freedom of speech and expression in this world. There really is no definable line between art/horror, satire/cruelty, and if we try to define one, we will repress society generally.

Sure, 99.999% of right-thinking humans find this bag abhorrent. As do I. Sure, send protest letter if you like.

But to blame Australia for the tastelessness of one of its citizens is ludicrous and bigoted.

Frankly Tuckerfan get a life and ease up. It’s a far greater evil if the businesses of normal, everyday Australians (who probably hate this bag just as much as you do) are threatened by some overreactive blanket ban of all Aussie products.

9

LETTER to the MEXICAN LEGATE to the UNITED STATES

To His Excellency Juan José Bremer, The Ambassador of Mexico:

The recent retail sale by your country’s Niddidas tennis shoes made in maquilladoras is a new all-time low in mass marketing.

If you wish to avoid a veritable FIRESTORM of criticism and complaint I urge you on the strongest possible terms to immediately and loudly renounce such dastardly capitalisation upon one of worst ecological atrocities in recent history.

Until I see such an announcement by your government and its representatives here in the United States I will refuse to buy any Mexican goods whatsoever.

I am a devout capitalist and a staunch defender of artistic freedoms. HOWEVER THERE ARE LIMITS AND THIS IS ONE OF THEM. The horrid nature of this atrocity commands a mute response from those who would seek to profit from any ancillary aspect of such mass murder in any way shape or form. Rest assured that I am well aware of the ongoing litigation in my own country over the large number of people who have lost their jobs to those south of the border. Do not think for one instant that I am any less mortified with such blood thirsty lunacy masked as business going on in my own country.

Your country owes the United States an abject apology. Niddidas must do their best to destroy all remaining inventory and sever its ties with the scabrous Communist Chinese firm responsible for such an outright slap in the face to all survivors of this tragedy and the American people as a whole.

The complete lack of good judgment and reprehensible taste demonstrated by this enterprise in your own country takes me aback. I can only find this to be a hypocritical insult of the highest order to your own worthy troops who are risking their lives on Mexican soil in pursuit of the factory owners who perpetrated this disgustingly murderous conspiracy.

I expect a personal reply from your offices and if one is not forthcoming it will forever harm my perception of what I once thought was your wonderful country.

With Great Revulsion,

chique

P.S. I do know that a government has relatively little control over the products made and sold by private companies. I am, however, and idiot (and have uncontrollable knee-jerks besides), and think that my personal letter to a governmental representative will convince said government that it should instantly edit out all products of bad taste (Big Mouth Billy Bass notwithstanding).

[sub]I am mindful of Ed’s new rule. I hope this doesn’t rock on over the edge. Parody is too much fun to be done away with. Please delete if this teeters on over.[/sub]

10

American here! I still love Australians (curse your adorable accents anyway).

At least now you’ll be able to easily identify who’s a tasteless idiot.

11

I’m gonna ask once more that people not let this turn into an Aussie vs US Dopers slanging match.

I’m a little disappointed that Zenster didn’t choose to post for himself an “Aussies, this sucks - who should we contact to protest?” type of thread, but even leaving that aside I’d like to make a few points (neither of which attempts to justify the actions of the particular company concerned in this instance) :

  1. People from many nations were killed in the terrorist actions of September 11, 2001; the actions weren’t restricted to just the WTC, neither were only US citizens killed;

  2. People have been profiting from this event and the images of it since September 11, 2001; I myself bought the TIME September 11 special edition and most major news organisations still have images from that day available for a price;

  3. Rightly or wrongly, many nations - my own included - have asked our youth to submit images of that fateful day to various art competitions the proceeds of which go to aid those directly affected.

I don’t think for a minute that your average “lady who lunches” in Australia is even giving a thought to whether they are in some way aiding the victims of September 11 by their purchase, but here - at least - immediately post September 11 there was a whole lot of pretty tacky merchandise for sale which was only saleable because of people’s desire to do “something” to help those affected. There was also a whole lot of pretty tacky merchandise available which probably benefited no-one, but still made people feel like they were in some way showing some kind of solidarity (all the non-US made “stars and stripes” clothing which suddenly appeared in our chain stores springs to mind).

  1. Did not someone register “World Trade Centres” as a trademark in the US within hours of the events saying that they did so in order to stop any exploitation? Was that trademark ever transferred to any any kind of independent body to oversee its use?
12

I understand what you mean Reprise but I don’t think it’s a fair thing to ask. I’m not slagging off US Dopers… as a whole, I love them. I’m slagging off one.

Zenster I would appreciate an apology. Australia, as a country, is not responsible for what one retail shop has done. Do not lump the actions of one in with the group.

I say this as an Australian who sent an e-mail of disgust to the responsible company before I even opened this thread. (I got a heads-up on another board) I agree with you that it is disgusting, so stop painting with that broad brush, you’re splattering friends and supporters.

13

(American Doper here)

Tastless? Yes.
Offensive? Yes.
The ENTIRE population of Australia’s fault? No.

I’m with reprise on this… complain to the company if you are sufficiently moved. This is not the fault of an entire country; and several US companies have tried to make money off of this tragedy as well. Some in even more offensive manners.

Capitalism ain’t always pretty!

14

For the record, apart from my earlier phone call to the company concerned, much of the G’Dope has fired of emails to the company involved. Hope people in the US do the same.

15

And the United States owes Australia an abject apology for getting them caught up in the Vietnam war. :rolleyes:

The bags are rotten and sick indeed, but get a grip, Zenster.

16

How is this worse than cashing in on the same tragedy by selling US flags in Australia?

Ok, so they’re tacky and tasteless, but I’m afraid I feel the same way about the glut of American-themed merchendise that’s appeared in Australian stores since 9-11. It’s all cashing in - how is it worse because of images depicting the event? Would it have been acceptable if it showed the towers and flags but not the planes? Wouldn’t that also be cashing in?

Your problem here is the cashing in, right?

Oh, and up yours for demanding an apology from Australia because of the actions of a clothing company that I for one have never heard of. Demand an apology from the manufacturers or the people who bought these ugly bags, but leave the rest of us out of it.

17

I’m gonna scream at my fellow Aussies in a minute…

This really, really is as under control as it can be -heaps of us have already emailed the company concerned and I’d guess that so have quite a few Merkins now they know who to contact.

References to the VietNam War are ironically appropriate - our politicians all but begged to be included in that one just as they almost begged to be included on the list of targets some 9 months ago (there were threads at the time about the "us too? PLEASE? stance of our politicians).

18

Money money money money…

sigh pathetic.

E.

19

Thank you, reprise for being so level headed about this. Your cool under pressure makes you look like a cool dude(dudette?).

As for the bags…well, I think they’re gaudy as hell. Even if it was a picture of a FLOWER I’d never buy it. It’s pretty tasteless.

–scout, USA

(I’m not usually the letter writing type, but I may make an exception this time - especially since you’ve gone through all the legwork of providing us the info!)

20

In speaking for myself, here, I’m not opposed to people selling 9/11 related items, I myself have a WTC calendar, that’s got some lovely shots of the WTC buildings. What I dislike about the bag is that its so freakin’ tacky. If it just had a picture (however crudely done) of the WTC, no problem. But a horribly done picture of the planes crashing into the buildings??? Yeesh!

And I will agree that Zenster’s letter was a little over the top.