Fireman's Fund

Fireman's Fund

Late last week, as lots of people (depending on where you heard about it) were in an uproar over the president's use of 9/11 imagery in his first campaign commercial, the Daily News tried to create a stir of their own over someone else exploiting the attacks for profit.

It seems news photographer Tom Franklin's now-famous shot (based on the Iwo Jima photo, and just as staged) of three fireman raising the flag over WTC rubble has now been plastered on a new credit card.

The bank behind the card, MBNA, promises that a percentage of the card's earnings will go to 9/11 charities, primarily the Bravest Fund?a charity formed by the three firefighters in the picture. Funny thing is, (apart from the financial shenanigans outlined in the Daily News story), the charity seems to make most of its money through licensing that photo. Over the past few years, it's been licensed for use on t-shirts, posters, lithographs, statuettes, stamps and bomber jackets. The Bravest Fund has earned an estimated $750,000 as a result.

So now it's on a credit card. Why is anybody shocked? Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta was quoted as saying, "If there's any attempt to exploit 9/11 for financial profit here, it would be despicable."

What the hell is he talking about? Almost from the moment they happened, the attacks have been a cash cow. What about them hasn't been exploited for money, or political gain or even something as simple as bragging rights?

To pretend that this is a new and shocking development?or that the president wasn't going to use 9/11 references in his commercials?is foolish. America is the land of exploitation; it's one of the things we do best. The attacks were readymade to be exploited, and everyone from the president to the victims' families to the cops and firemen to Chinese immigrants have gotten in on the game.

Weird thing about the Daily News story is that in this latest instance, they seem to be laying the blame squarely on the shoulders of the bank issuing the card, even though the bank had been approached by the Bravest Fund, who suggested the idea in the first place, and are making a pretty penny (again) by licensing that photo.