bill hueyI hesitated to write this, because I can imagine how old-fashioned and fuddy-duddy it is going to sound, but it is high time for the institutions and organizations of this country—profit, not-for-profit, corporations, sports teams, schools, service organizations, and the like—to take a refresher course in the care, handling and display of the United States flag.

The recently concluded Rio Olympics are the immediate occasion for this piece. After seeing the men and women of the U.S. 400x1 relay teams on television wearing the American flag like bathrobes filched from a luxury hotel, I did a quick internet search of Olympic athletes and events and found at least a dozen photos of the flag being used as props, decorations, wraps, shawls and butt coverings.

In the past few years, I have seen the flag used as a drape for a dead parachutist on the ground (which the flag should never be allowed to touch), pin decorations at golf tournaments, bunting, and other inappropriate or downright disrespectful uses. In a particularly misguided show of support following the recent spate of police shootings, the flag was defaced to a black-and-white banner with a broad blue stripe running down its center.

The reasons for this are many, and I will identify only a few: 1) lack of education about flag etiquette; 2) the absence of compulsory military service or other normative activities; and, 3) a kind of phony patriotism harnessed to rampant commercial exploitation of patriotic symbols and emotions.

The last is the most egregious, and there’s plenty of blame to go around. The USOC, for example, should be deeply ashamed of permitting the flag to be used as a prop or a body wrap and take immediate steps to instruct all athletes in the proper handling and display of this important symbol.

Corporations should review their advertising and marketing materials to ensure that the flag is used properly and treated with respect. Service organizations such as the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs, Kiwanis, Rotary, etc., should re-double their efforts to promote appropriate display and use of the flag. All sports organizations—and particularly the big-bucks harvesters such as the NFL, NBA, MLB, PGA, and USOC—should review their policies and practices.

Even the U.S. military, which is in the position of leading the way, should review its promotional items and pseudo-military gear for inappropriate uses. One of the images I encountered on the internet was an ad or promotional poster headlined, “Dress Like a Champ,” showing young males, presumably athletes, draped in American flags. At the lower left corner was a somewhat inaccurate facsimile insignia of my own United States Air Force.

Respect for the flag should be a given, because the flag symbolizes not only America’s power and influence around the world, but the American idea. E Pluribus Unum—out of many, one—undergirded by the principles and institutions that generations have fought and died to uphold.

To cheapen Old Glory with phony patriotism and promotional chauvinism is not just offensive; it is a disgrace to the nation.

Bill Huey is president of Strategic Communications, a corporate communications and marketing consultancy, and author of "Carbon Man," a novel about greed.