Golf Channel oh no you didn't!

[nevets88]

You did. Used the anniversary of MLK's I have a dream speech to tweet a request for golf dreams. http://m.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2013/08/golf-channel-cynicaly-co-opts-mlk-speech-social-media-screwup/68824/

[TJBam]

Is "social media manager" even a real job?  If it is there's a good chance the "job" was compromised today.  Hehe.

[Motley01]

What's Twitter? I've never heard of it.

[Beachcomber]

:facepalm:  The marketing tool who did that obviously slept through their history classes.

[Golfingdad]

I must be racist because I don't get why it's a big deal.

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

I must be racist because I don't get why it's a big deal.

Same. It isn't a big deal.

More people looking for a reason to get offended.

[meenman]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

I must be racist because I don't get why it's a big deal.

To change my racist ways, I think I will declare MLK day a holiday next year at our company.

[nevets88]

I didn't say it's racist. It's practically a false equivalence. Having dreams of no separate water fountains/bathrooms or being able to eat anywhere you want is nothing close to lowering your handicap, playing Augusta, winning the club championship, etc. Kudos to those who wrote ending club membership discrimination based on sex, race, etc but I'm guessing that's not a majority of what was written in the now unavailable golf dream page. And drumming up page hits and thus ad revenue using a traditionally solemn holiday is crass.

[David in FL]

Huh? So what?!

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by nevets88

I didn't say it's racist.

It's practically a false equivalence. Having dreams of no separate water fountains/bathrooms or being able to eat anywhere you want is nothing close to lowering your handicap, playing Augusta, winning the club championship, etc. Kudos to those who wrote ending club membership discrimination based on sex, race, etc but I'm guessing that's not a majority of what was written in the now unavailable golf dream page.

And drumming up page hits and thus ad revenue using a traditionally solemn holiday is crass.

I know you didn't, I wasn't even implying that you did.

I guess I'm saying that it's really easy to say they shouldn't do that, but what is it hurting?  Awareness is good, right?  Just because they are doing a play on words doesn't mean that they, or anybody, for that matter is actually going to equate their golf dream with the civil rights movement.

Most of the stuff you read online and in the papers when Martin Luther King Day rolls around (or for that matter, Presidents Day, Columbus Day, Memorial Day, etc) are ads for Macy's and Sit-N-Sleep and Sears anyway.  I don't recall anybody getting bent out of shape (nor should they) because these stores are crass enough to equate my dreams of a luxurious new pair of shoes, a mattress, or a washer and dryer, to MLK's dreams of integration.

[jamo]

It's a little weird, certainly not racist. I had about the same reaction when I saw someone I follow on Twitter RT Hardee's hashtagging #ihaveadream. Just seems weird to me. I'm sure there's a study somewhere showing that people react differently than I do, otherwise big companies like that wouldn't tweet about the 9/11 anniversary and the like. I mean, these social media majors have to be learning something, right?

[nevets88]

Ad Age or one of the major ad industry magazines usually has a top ten list of most tacky MLK day ads. I think one of them superimposed King's head on a surfer's body. And if you look around the Internet, people do get upset over co-opting any non-commericial holiday for commercial purposes. What GC did isn't that much different. But The hashtag #dreamday was thought up of by I dunno who for expressing thoughts in the spirit of MLK's speech. That GC co-opted it makes this a little different.

[iacas]

I don't think it's that big of a deal, frankly.

A bit tacky, yeah, but meh. Whatever.

[Harmonious]

Originally Posted by nevets88

Ad Age or one of the major ad industry magazines usually has a top ten list of most tacky MLK day ads. I think one of them superimposed King's head on a surfer's body. And if you look around the Internet, people do get upset over co-opting any non-commericial holiday for commercial purposes. What GC did isn't that much different.

But The hashtag #dreamday was thought up of by I dunno who for expressing thoughts in the spirit of MLK's speech. That GC co-opted it makes this a little different.

Last I checked, the closest holiday is Labor Day. I know that many stores will have Labor Day Sales all weekend. Do the same people who object to using the word "Dream" also object to stores using the word "Labor" in their advertising?

[ldpk]

I have a dream that someday ill shoot scratch