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Al Pacino once said in Godfather III something to the effect of “As soon as I’m out, they pull me right back in.” That’s how we feel about this manufactured conspiracy theory we were going to ignore – originated in a MediaPost opinion piece by Eric Sass – that a new Lexus commercial somehow uses 9/11-like imagery. This is a waste of time. Everyone is reading waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much into this. What…all ads shot in NYC that show the skyline will now be accused of treading inappropriately on 9/11? Please. Yea, there’s two cars in the commercial. It’s hardly as symmetrical as some claim nor in any way reminiscent of 9/11.
If you want to complain about an ad that reminds us of 9/11, why don’t we look at the Cingular billboards with the two bars extending upward from the board. Those ads have been running for years. Sure 9/11 sucked. It always will suck. It will always a sad day in our history. But to think marketers are maliciously trying to make fun of 9/1 is just indicative we all have way too much time on our hands to analyze this crap.