Tysons Corner, an upscale mall in the Washington, D.C. area, just pulled down over 400 ads that were recently posted in the city’s metro system because they looked an awful lot like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, except instead of names of soldiers they had names of famous retail stores. We’re sure they would have gone with soldier names if any of the soldiers offered great deals on today’s hottest fashions. This is really on you, America’s Finest.

A spokeswoman for the mall told the Washington Examiner that after receiving a complaint from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, they’re pulling the ads down:

In a statement, Fischer said Tysons holds “nothing but the greatest respect for the men and women who have served this country and we apologize to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund for any unintentional similarities” to the Wall.

“We are responding to the Fund’s request and are moving quickly to remove this advertisement,” she said. “The ad design, which was developed as an evolution of the long-standing Tysons Corner Center campaign ‘Where the Stores are,’ was not intended to emulate any representation of the Memorial Wall.”

We also have a feeling there’s going to be an interesting marketing meeting this week about “appropriate imagery” in future Tysons Corner advertising.

“Tysons Corner ad shocks Vietnam vets” [Washington Examiner]
“Tysons Corner Center: ‘War Chic'” (Thanks to Anne!) [why.i.hate.dc]
(Photo: Dave Stroup)

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