Blame it on the Developer

By 7:00 AM,  Paula Baldwin, manager of public relations for Best Buy, had an email full of flags (no pun intended) requesting information about a Best Buy on RTE 3 in New Jersey that apparently was flying a tattered American Flag.

I called before she had had an opportunity to open any of the emails to find out what the flap was all about.

I told her. She said she would get back to me in 5 minutes. She got back to me in about 10.

The flag that was flying about 60 feet in the air right next to the Best Buy sign on RTE 3 became the object of attention this morning on MSNBC.

Don Imus, who simulcasts on both MSNBC and radio stations throughout the country, mentioned that ever since he had been doing the show from the MSNBC studios he had noticed that this flag was tattered.

Imus was not amused. While he did say he was not sure whether the flag was on Best Buy property he added, " "Isn't it against the law to fly a tattered flag?"

The more he got to thinking about it, the more annoyed he got. And so, he sent a camera crew out to show the TV audience exactly what the flag looked like.

It was a sad flag. Many would say it was a disgrace.

According to Imus and side kick Charles McCord,  this flag didn't just become tattered. It's been in a state of tatter for quite some time.

Imus suggested that Best Buy spend less time buying stuff manufactured overseas and spend more time respecting the American Flag.

Turns out the tattered flag is not on Best Buy property. According to Baldwin, Best Buy rents all of its property from development companies, and the flag belongs to the developers. The flag is their responsibility.

"Nevertheless", Baldwin said, "Best Buy is taking the flag down today and putting up a new one."

Asked who the developer is, Baldwin said that she didn't know.

Here's the thing.  Don Imus couldn't have been the only person who noticed the tattered flag. Given its location, it would be easy to assume that the flag belonged to Best Buy.

So given that scenario, why wasn't the staff of the Best Buy on RTE 3 concerned that a tattered American Flag was flying next to their name?

Didn't it occur to anyone working in this New Jersey store that it would not be a good thing for their company's image to be flying a flag in that awful condition?

Did they make calls to the developer and did the developer simply ignore their requests for a new flag?

And certainly Don Imus was not the only person who drives past that Best Buy every day to notice the flag was tattered. Did Best Buy get complaints? If they did,did they refer them to the developer?

It's great that the flag is being replaced. It would also be great to understand why it took Don Imus to get them to do it.