We hate when marketers ruin a perfectly good grassroots idea and make it into their own. On April Fools Day, a huge Trade Barry! billboard went up right near SBC/AT&T Park in San Francisco. This would have been pretty cool as either a joke or a message from some disgruntled Giants fan. (Albeit a very stupid Giants fan – as if anyone would take Barry in a trade.)
It turns out that the it’s just the first stages of some ad campaign. “The message will evolve in coming days, said the source, who is familiar with the campaign. In the end, it won’t even be anti-Bonds.” Not even anti-Bonds? How lame. Whatever they’re selling, I ain’t buying.
Also, since we’re talking grassroots billboards, I went to check out Onepeat.com. It was a clever idea but greed ruined that too. “Onepeat.com is now a for-profit venture. We have opened a new online store and are now selling AFCA National Championship Coaches’ Trophy gear in addition to our billboard t-shirts.” Is it just me or does this seem wrong somehow? They had a pledge drive to erect a billboard and now because of the goodwill in people linking to the story, have decided to turn into a marketing site. It’s like PBS deciding to go to premium cable. Bah.
Links:
[SFGate.com]: Bonds sign is a work in progress
