Remember the late night TV show on ABC called “Politically Incorrect” with Bill Maher? Each half hour episode consisted of Maher sitting around a coffee table with four guests, discussing topics of the day. It was one of the few shows worth watching, but sadly was canceled a couple three years ago or so.
One night, a few weeks after 9/11, he brought a particular promotional poster to the table. The poster was done for Starbucks to promote their new “Tazo” drink.
It was hard to believe that this got by anybody. I was blown away, as was Bill and his guests. If you’re not seeing the theme here, notice the two towers, surrounded by smaller buildings, and a firefly speeding slightly downward directly into one of the towers. Top it off with the thematic word “Collapse”, and you’ve got a message worth discussing, analyzing, and perhaps even condemning.
Whoah.
Realizing that this wasn’t going to last long, particularly after Maher’s show, I rushed out to Starbucks nearby with my digital camera in hopes of finding a straggling store that still had the poster up. My first couple stores were already on it, having removed the poster by corporate instruction. I was happy to find one final store in Redondo Beach that still had the poster on the wall, giving me the chance to capture it for the photo archives.
Funny how an ad so focused on hip new flavors could be done in such questionable taste.
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