The 9/11 Memorial Museum gift shop is taking heat for selling cheap souvenirs on the back of a horrific national tragedy. Here's how other memorial museums handle the sensitive subject of trinket capitalism.
Even before the 9/11 Memorial Museum gift shop opened May 21, it was arousing fierce controversy. The sale of trinkets, from Tribute of Light iPhone cases to "rescue dog" stuffed animals, fired up the tabloids, mainstream news sites, and some families of 9/11 victims, who argued that the cheap souvenirs made light of a horrible tragedy. Consider some of the headlines: "The 9/11 museum's absurd gift shop," "Families infuriated by 'crass commercialism' of 9/11 Museum gift shop," and "9/11 Museum Gift Shop And Cafe: Appropriate Or Insulting To Victims?"