Nextel And The Firefighters

by Saul Bloodworth

Usually, I don't watch TV ads since I have TiVo, sometimes, however, I'm to lazy to switch. So, I saw that Nextel ad where firefighters are making decisions. They make the decisions pretty quick, like Sarah Palin on steroids: water - check, housing - check, electricity, check. The point of the ad is that you have to be quick.

Why is this revolting? Because Nextel, now a joint venture with Sprint, was responsible for the equipment of the police and the fire department in New York City on 9-11. Equipment that, we remember, was to crappy to enable the police to warn to the firefighters who were rescuing people in the burning twin towers from the eminent collapse. This had caused the death of 320 firefighters who didn't excape in time. Nextel, by the way, is represented in Washington by Giuliani Partners.

The least they can do is not exploit their victims for commercial purposes.