Car dealerships and the U.S. Flag

[bfrink]

I drive by a car dealership every day on my way to work, and yesterday I noticed that the car dealership has tied a dozen or so large U.S. Flags to parking lot street lamps. I think it is disgraceful to display our country's flag in this manner. The car dealership has a legitimate flag pole, so the addition of the flags to the street lamps is clearly just an advertising exploit of the U.S. Flag. Are there any clear cut rules that I could bring to the car dealership's attention that would encourage them to stop their exploitation of the U.S. Flag?

Thank you for any feedback.

Ben Frink
Wilmington, North Carolina

[NAVA1974]

Ben,
The US Flag Code is ambivilent on this issue. It sates:
"(i) The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard. Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff or halyard from which the flag is flown. "
During World War II it was seen in bad taste to display the flag in store windows along with products for sale. A display devoted entirely to the US War Effort and the flag, or on the history of the flag was OK, but they did not want to step over the line and be seen as advertising their product with the flag. Using multiple flags, or one huge flag over their lot, is obviously an attepmt to draw attention to the dealership, but whether it is a violation of the flag code depends on the opinion of the viewer. And then there is the issue of penalties for violations of the flag code - the Supreme Court has always upheld violations like flag burning as an expression of free speech, so I doubt you could get any charges to stick when it is a simple matter of a car dealer displaying flags as an expression of patriotism. Nick

[bfrink]

Thank you for the thorough answer to my question. I'm sure you are correct, and while I support free speech I still think fastening our nation's flag to a grimy utility pole is not in anyway patriotic. Moreover, I might add that it is a foreign car dealership that is displaying the symbol of our nation in such a disrespectful manner. I suppose that the best protest is to not visit their car lot. In any event, thanks again for your well presented answer.

Best regards,

Ben

[Robin Hickman]

Then there's always the DIRECT approach!

Personally visit them or call them up and quietly and politely express your concerns about the matter. There's NO guarantee that they'll change their ways.

BUT..... almost ALL retail businesses are VERY concerned about how they might "appear" to the public (ie. their customers and their "potential" customers) and will do almost anything to avoid the semblance of looking "bad".

If that fails, you can try "shaming" them into cleaning up their act. Make a nice BIG protest sign that's short and to the point, mount it on long stick (to carry it), send out news releases and make follow-up phone calls to the media outlets in your city (telling them about your "protest"), then go conduct your "protest" in front of the offending business!

You NEVER know what might happen then !!!

Robin "Methinks I Doth Protest Too Much" Hickman

[bfrink]

Robin,

You have some really good ideas. I'm sure that the local VFW would also like to get involved in protecting the honor of our flag. The dealership is/was obviously using our flag for promotional purposes. Thanks for your input.

Warmest regards,

Ben

[Robin Hickman]

Hello, Ben !

Like I said, the "direct" approach is almost always the best.

"They" may not even be aware of how bad the Flags look to others. As a retail business, they are (or at least should be) aware of how important their "public" image is. With the way the economy is right now, it is already difficult enough to sell cars, and the LAST thing they need right now is some bad publicity - ESPECIALLY about the American Flag!

A quiet "word" about the situation will kind of give them a "heads up" about it and will probably get them moving on it.

And if it doesn't..... you can always bump your efforts up another notch!

Robin "What Will Your Customers Think?" Hickman

[fast1]

Then there's always the DIRECT approach!

Personally visit them or call them up and quietly and politely express your concerns about the matter. There's NO guarantee that they'll change their ways.

BUT..... almost ALL retail businesses are VERY concerned about how they might "appear" to the public (ie. their customers and their "potential" customers) and will do almost anything to avoid the semblance of looking "bad".

If that fails, you can try "shaming" them into cleaning up their act. Make a nice BIG protest sign that's short and to the point, mount it on long stick (to carry it), send out news releases and make follow-up phone calls to the media outlets in your city (telling them about your "protest"), then go conduct your "protest" in front of the offending business!

You NEVER know what might happen then !!!

Robin "Methinks I Doth Protest Too Much" Hickman

good ideas!