It isn’t unusual to see companies offer a tribute to those affected by the 9/11 incidents through social media, a lot of companies took to their social media channels yesterday to remember and pay their respects to the victims. AT&T’s tribute post became controversial and within a few hours it had gained a lot of negative comments on both Twitter and Facebook. AT&T was accused of product placement, while some even called the post “tasteless.” It pulled the post after a short while, but not before thousands of people had slammed it.
Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s CEO, today personally apologized for the controversial post. He said that while they intended to honor those who were impacted by the 9/11 incident, “the image used in the post fell woefully short of honoring the lives lost on that tragic day.” Stephenson personally apologized to AT&T’s customers, employees and all those impacted by the incident, saying that it is a day that “Should never be forgotten and never, ever commercialized.” The carrier’s tribue post showed a smartphone recording the 9/11 memorial lights, this image sparked a series of furious comments and allegations of product placement. AT&T is obviously in damage control mode, but its unlikely that the internet will ever forget that this happened.
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