May 6, 2004
GOOD CALL:
Spider-Man ads scrapped (RONALD BLUM, 5/06/04)
Spider-Man ads on bases didn't fly with baseball fans.Posted by Orrin Judd at May 6, 2004 11:58 PMA day after announcing a novel promotion to have advertisements on bases next month, Major League Baseball reversed course Thursday and eliminated that part of its marketing deal for "Spider-Man 2."
"The bases were an extremely small part of this program," said Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer. "However, we understand that a segment of our fans was uncomfortable with this particular component and we do not want to detract from the fan's experience in any way."
Slathering ads all over NASCAR vehicles and jumpsuits is one thing - in fact, it's so much part of the sport that it's hard to imagine NASCAR without them - but ads in football and baseball belong on the stadium walls, not on the playing fields (or the players' uniforms).
Posted by: Joe at May 7, 2004 5:35 AM"Detract from the fan's experience"? These guys are stumps. Does history mean anything? I expect we soon will see multi-colored aluminum bats.
Posted by: jim hamlen at May 7, 2004 8:55 AMToo bad -- I was hoping to go to the Yanks-Padres series while I was in New York in early June to boo the bases.
Posted by: John at May 7, 2004 9:43 AMo/~
Spider-Man,
Spider-Man,
Didja know he was a baseball fan?
o/~
This is an excellent idea, and I'm sure we'll see more of it.
How about this: Ads plastered all over the athlete's uniforms, and no public funds for new stadiums ?
Players could even sell "naming" rights.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at May 8, 2004 4:37 AM