Chevrolet has found itself at the center of a controversy after conceiving a poorly-worded Silverado promotion that was set to take place during Major League Baseball’s World Series.
The concept of the promotion was simple enough – before the start of the third inning of game five, fans in Busch Stadium were told hold up placards that spelled out “Silverado Strong.” However, many fans – particularly of the Boston Red Sox – took exception to that phrase as it seemed to play off of “Boston Strong”, which was a term used to help unite the city following the April bombings of the Boston Marathon.
General Motors said in a statement to Automotive News that it never meant any harm by the promotion and was only trying to honor the brand’s “commitment to baseball and its fans.”
The promotion never actually took place, however, as images of the signs leaked out ahead of the game and went viral. The backlash was so severe that GM canceled the stunt.
Although the event never got off the ground, some writers had some choice worlds for GM, including Yahoo Sports blogger David Brown who accused GM of trying to “profit from domestic terrorism with a marketing campaign.”
While Brown’s words might be a overly harsh, “Silverado Strong” was certainly a poor choice of wording that should have been spotted well before the project was ever given the green light.
Photo courtesy of Reddit user prince_harry.
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