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In the aftermath of September 11, my email inbox was flooded with expressions of sympathy for the victims and their families. After the thirtieth, or maybe the fortieth, message in under a week, I began to wonder what purpose those emails served.
Don’t get me wrong - I cried buckets as I sat glued to my television set more horrified than I thought possible. Those acts of terrorism, so close to home, shocked me to the core. It was personal. It was terrifying. It changed my world forever.
But I can’t help wondering why so many email marketers felt required them to publish a special bulletin of condolence, regardless of the nature of their regular mailings.
The cynic in me sees it as an excuse to publish when publication of any other sort would have been vulgar and crass. The social scientist in me wonders if there wasn’t some cathartic value in the shared grief expressed over the wires. The professional marketer is wondering what you think.
I suppose it may have been a way to fight back - to demonstrate a refusal to be bowed. For me, I had no words. No pithy comments or carefully phrased sympathetic statement. I was enraged. I was stunned. I was horrified. And I knew no words would ever bring those people back. No words would ever give my children the opportunity to wowed by the magesty of those buildings against a New York skyline.
No, I’m afraid that one time, I was far to busy hanging on to my kids for dear life to give a damn about email marketing.
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