Mattress store's 9/11 'Twin Tower Sale' sparks immediate outrage
A mattress store in San Antonio, Texas, is in hot water after releasing an offensive commercial for a "Twin Tower Sale" on the weekend of the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The clip, which was originally uploaded to Facebook on Thursday but has since been deleted by the company, shows manager Cherise Bonanno and two employees posed in front of two piles of mattresses stacked into towers with an American flag posted in the middle.
"What better way to remember 9/11 than with a Twin Tower Sale?" Cherise asks to start off the clip.
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After announcing that all sized mattresses will be available for the price of a twin, the two employees then fall back into the mattress towers, knocking them over.
"Oh my god," Cherise says before adding, "We'll never forget," using the words Americans have lived by since the 9/11 terrorist attacks brought down the World Trade Center in 2001.
The video received immediate backlash on Facebook, and owner Mike Bonnano issued an apology to the company's Facebook page Thursday evening, but not before someone recorded a copy of the clip and uploaded it to YouTube.
Some commenters said that the apology simply wasn't enough.
Others couldn't imagine how anyone thought this was an acceptable way to promote a sale.
At the time of writing on Friday, a tweet promoting the sale and a link to the original video was still posted to the store's Twitter account.
The stores rating on its Facebook page has since dropped to 1.2 stars
And the store's Yelp! page has also received a number of negative reviews for posting the clip.
UPDATE: Sept. 9, 2016, 3:59 p.m. EDT Miracle Mattress released another statement on its Facebook page on Friday which states that its stores will be closed indefinitely following the backlash to "avoid any further distractions from a day of recognition and rememberence for the victims and their families."
Sadly, this isn't the first brand to the 9/11 terrorist attacks to promote its brand. A Walmart which is reportedly located in Florida had this Coca-Cola display with a 9/11 commemorative banner hung above. Two towers of Coke Zero cases were stacked to symbolize the Twin Towers.
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