As Hurricane Sandy hit a death toll of 74 and initially left 8 million without power, many Americans are criticizing brands that chose to use the storm as a marketing ploy and capitalize in the wake of destruction.
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Retailers ranging from the usual suspects (American Apparel and Urban Outfitters) to more sensitive brands (Gap and Jonathan Adler) blasted out emails and tweets full of hurricane puns and special, limited time Sandy Sales.
Be it good marketing or insensitive exploitation, the press and social media-sphere critiqued the trend. Some brands apologized, others didn't.
It's reminiscent of when Kenneth Cole compared the Arab Spring to its spring sale, tweeting "Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online."
Furthermore, flash sale sites like Groupon and Living Social are shilling deals for resorts, restaurants, and more that were damaged in the storm and currently out of commission. Although Living Social's director of communication Marie Griffin told Ad Age, "What we have done in light of the storm is we have been in touch with our different hotel partners, and for those that have been affected we've pulled them off the site for now."
People were outraged when American Apparel emailed customers about a Hurricane Sandy 20 percent off sale. Online shoppers were prompted to type "SANDYSALE" in the online checkout. The company didn't apologize.
Gap was also criticized for this Tweet sent Monday, which also asked customers to check in on its Foursquare: “Frankenstorm Apocalypse — Hurricane Sandy.”
Gap kind of apologized by erasing the offending Tweet and offering this explanation:
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