How Should Companies Deal with Global Tragedies in their Marketing Communications Efforts?

Fifteen years later, I am still always surprised by the number of marketing fails that surround the anniversary of September 11th.  Among the failures of 2016 was this gem:

Why does this happen year after year?  While it is probably clear to most readers why the above mattress commercial is inappropriate, I don’t think the answer is always clear cut to marketers.  For instance, this commercial that aired during the 2002 Super Bowl gained a lot of positive attention on social media since the 10th anniversary of September 11th:

However, when this commercial first aired, Budweiser angered a lot of people who were not ready for companies to begin commercializing such a tragic incident in U.S. history.  The obvious lesson here is that Americans became more accepting of tastefully done tributes to the heroes and victims of September 11th over time.  However, the big question is:  what makes a tastefully done tribute?

For instance, this highly controversial AT&T ad from 2011 is very often very well responded to when I use it as an example in my Promotions and Branding and Integrated Marketing Communications classes:

The photography and creativity of this advertisement is brilliant.  It is like a work of art.  However, the advertisement was controversial because the product and brand was front and center.  Consumers perceived this as AT&T presenting itself as more important than the tragedy and lives lost.  Consumers still felt this way 10 years after the incident. 

Yet, I love this example in class because it is a mistake that students can actually see making themselves.  They are captured by the photography and creativity and lose sight of other potential ways consumers may negatively interpret the advertisements.  It’s a powerful example because students cannot see making the mistakes of other marketing fails that I bring into class.  It also is a great jumping point into the discussion of how to tastefully and respectfully acknowledge the tragedy of September 11th (or any tragedy for that matter).

Heidi Rottier, a colleague that teaches Social Media Marketing at Bradley University, provided me with the best visual to help explain the fine lines of acceptability to students:

I think that the best lesson is to make sure that you do not put the brand and company front and center in any tribute to a tragedy impacting human lives.  Any good tribute should feature the heroes and victims as the centerpiece of the advertisement.  In fact, we shouldn’t even think of these pieces of marketing communication as advertisements and instead frame them as tributes.  Paying tribute to the heroes and victims of these tragedies shows that your heart is in the right place as a company.

What do you think…are there any other important lessons as to what is acceptable or not when it comes to paying tribute to a world tragedy in a piece of marketing communication?  Do the lines of acceptability change in other countries and cultures?