Joe's Gloomy Spot Presents:  How Not to Market a Garden Cemetery.

(1) More Misplaced Patriotism. As if doing it once weren't bad enough, Woodlawn makes sure that even if you glossed over its terrorist attack tie-in on the front, you'll probably notice it on the back.

(2) The Cosmopolitan Card. This is my favorite sentence of the whole piece. "Historic Choice of Families Who Could Choose Any Cemetery in the World." It's the sort of thing I would way about Woodlawn, and mean it as a compliment. But in marketing material, it's not so good. I'm not sure what people are supposed to think. "Well, Uncle Morty loved New Orleans, so we could bury him there, or there's Pere Lachaise in Paris, of course, or Mount Auburn in Boston, or a random cemetery in Kyoto...wait, I know, it's gotta be Woodlawn!" And playing the "affordable" card right above that can only help, too.

(3) Mall2. The oddly shaped interior space, the columns, high ceiling with skylights, the careful plantings; okay, I'll grant it's an upscale mall, but still, it looks more like a mall to me than ever. Is there a Food Court?