Friday, May 07, 2004
Spider-Man Web of Ads Unravels
According to Richard Sandomir of the New York Times, the impetus to scrub the on-field aspect of the Spider-Man 2 promotion came from Columbia Pictures, not MLB. Columbia asked MLB to remove the on-base ads from the deal after monitoring polls on ESPN and AOL that showed fans overwhelmingly opposed to the concept.
Meanwhile, Bob DuPuy confirmed MLB's cluelessness. DuPuy "said in an interview that had baseball viewed advertising on the bases as a 'negative issue,' it would not have agreed to what he called Columbia's 'demand' that the 'Spider-Man 2' design be placed on them. 'We didn't want to offend any of our fans,' he said. 'It wasn't worth the risk.'"
How oblivious must MLB have been not to have realized that advertising on the bases would be considered a "negative issue" that might "offend some of its fans"?
Columbia's spokesman said that the studio hadn't discussed with MLB whether the revised promotion would mean a reduction in the studio's sponsorship fee. All the way from California, Bud Selig insisted it wouldn't.
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According to Richard Sandomir of the New York Times, the impetus to scrub the on-field aspect of the Spider-Man 2 promotion came from Columbia Pictures, not MLB. Columbia asked MLB to remove the on-base ads from the deal after monitoring polls on ESPN and AOL that showed fans overwhelmingly opposed to the concept.
Meanwhile, Bob DuPuy confirmed MLB's cluelessness. DuPuy "said in an interview that had baseball viewed advertising on the bases as a 'negative issue,' it would not have agreed to what he called Columbia's 'demand' that the 'Spider-Man 2' design be placed on them. 'We didn't want to offend any of our fans,' he said. 'It wasn't worth the risk.'"
How oblivious must MLB have been not to have realized that advertising on the bases would be considered a "negative issue" that might "offend some of its fans"?
Columbia's spokesman said that the studio hadn't discussed with MLB whether the revised promotion would mean a reduction in the studio's sponsorship fee. All the way from California, Bud Selig insisted it wouldn't.
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