We Will Never Forget Your Money

Yesterday marked 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.  Obviously, people all across America were emotionally affected by this tragic event and commemorated it in many ways.  State Farm chose this day to air this commercial on national television:

First off, let me say that this commercial was a great way to honor the firefighters who fought to save others during this tragic event, as it is nearly impossible to not get a little bit emotional while watching it.

However, while I completely support any attempt to show respect, this commercial felt fake to me.  Don’t get me wrong, the 58 seconds of it were touching and brilliant, but in the last second, the words “State Farm” appear.  This gives me the impression that they made this commercial primarily for the purpose of making money and that they don’t really care about commemorating the event as much as they appear to.  If they did really want to honor the event, there were many better ways to spend the enormous amount of money that it cost to air this commercial across the nation on NFL season opening day.

On a moral level, I find it very wrong that State Farm is exploiting people’s emotional attachments to this event by sending the false messages that they only care about honoring 9/11 when they just want to make money.  I’m not saying that State Farm is some cruel, emotionless corporation that has no sympathy for the victims (because they are people too and had to be at least somewhat emotionally affected), but they are taking advantage of a horrible situation for their gain.