From newspapers to charities, MTV to Starbucks, advertisers have often tried to spin 9/11 into positive promotion--and failed miserably.

It has been nine years since the 9/11 attacks, and for some reason, advertisers have yet to learn that tragedy should not be exploited for gain. Here, we present a collection from the worst culprits of these ads.

How does Paris-based newspaper the Courrier International show potential subscribers it's on the bleeding edge? By suggesting its content will help them anticipate...9/11?

Of course! If only those dang World Trade towers were a few stories lower! Stupid architects! (Side note: Does Courrier realize the WTC attacks weren't an accident? I mean, why would shorter buildings even change anything?)

"If you read El País," says the caption in this ad for the Spanish newspaper, "you would have noticed that the first attack on the World Trace Center was on the North Tower, that the impact wasn't in the middle floors but in the upper ones...and besides, the Transamerica Pyramid is in San Francisco and not in New York."

Oi! That's right! How didn't we notice those jarring bloopers in this oh-so subtle ad?

"Things hard to explain, in a language you understand."

Can't say the same for their advertisements.

Why not cram two tragedies into one?

In this ad from MTV, as smokes rises from the WTC, a starving child sits alone on the Brooklyn Bridge. The caption reads: "2,863 people died [in 9/11]; 824 million people starving in the world; The world united against terrorism. It should also be united against...HUNGER."

A big theme of all these ads you'll notice is to exploit 9/11 for another cause.

In this ad, for example, French ecological society Defi Pour La Terre challenges, "For nature, everyday is 9/11."

To continue that theme, why not rope in the dangers of smoking?

Remember, the ad says, smoking is 2000 times worse than 9/11.

Just in case 9/11 doesn't drive the message home, why not throw the Titanic in for good measure.

In yet another French ad (apparently, 9/11 is popular among French marketers), Solidarités arbitrarily adds two random tragedies together and multiplies by 2000 to get the ultimate disaster equation--and one heck of an embarrassing ad.

The World Wildlife Foundation's ad will leave you speechless.

"The tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11," reads the ad, referring to the Indian Ocean catastrophe. "The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it."
And if that wasn't enough, WWF created this terrifying commercial as well.

These past ads have been clear in their exploitation, but this Starbucks ad from 2002 is not as explicit. The promotion is for the company's new Tazo Citrus drink, and features two cups, one dragonfly, and the tagline "collapse into cool."

Starbucks received a bunch of complaints over the ad and quickly issued an apology.

What do you think? Is this yet another case of tasteless 9/11 exploitation?

Or is this one instance where, as the ad suggests, we should "cool" down?