If I were a scientist who remembers the Apollo flights and the technology of the time, I'd be offended by the interpretation that Apollo was only flag and footprints. (BTW, the Columbia and Challenger commemorations from Spirit and Opportunity are the same kind of interpretation too).
Sorry, but Apollo was a lot more than F & F !!

It inspired a whole generation, it produced great technological progress, it brought back great news, adventures, endeavours!
AND it brought back 386 KG of Moonrocks!
Isn't one of the Mars objectives to bring back Mars samples?
Scientists told us that the Moon wasn't exactly what we thought (the Earth's sister, or doughter or wife, to shematize) but even today, we don't exactly know . Was it imperative we had to have an answer , after Apollo, to consider those missions as successes?

The Laser mirrors the crews left, help us precisely measure what happens to the Moon, relative to Earth.

The Alsep platforms detected what happened to the ground when the SIVB stages impacted the Moon.

The UV camera was a novelty, from the Moon!

The visited sites each had various characteristics and properties that had meanings for scientits.

The astronauts were also able to travel several kilometers and find different sample signatures in the same landing area.

The CM analyzed the Moon from orbit, took lots of detailed pictures.

In short: We know a lot more about the Moon than we would, had we not been there!

Flag and Footprints is an interpretation we get from those who forget what the state of the technology was at the time (we're now 33 years later, that's a lot, in that term).
I remember making a speech in flemish when I was 12, a few months before Apollo 11, struggling to say that once on the Moon, the astronauts will need to learn a maximum from the Moon, with the mimum of time at their disposal.

The LM had its limitations, so did the Spacesuits and we were 33 years ago.

Apollo produced much more than the politicians and engineers dreamt of, in the early 60's. There was even a moment when it was envisaged only one astronaut would moonwalk, at a time.

No, Apollo wasn't Flag and Footprints.

Raoul