The MLB Cardinals' attempt to draw attention to an upcoming promotion "flopped," as a post from the club's official Twitter account "resulted in a significant amount of online backlash, claims of sexism and headlines on local and national websites alike," according to Ben Frederickson of the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. The tweet was promoting the giveaway of replica '67 World Series championship "mystery rings before a May 17 game against" the Red Sox. The two teams played against each other in the World Series 50 years ago. The tweet read, "You love baseball, she loves jewelry. On May 17th, it's a win-win." The "now-deleted tweet that accompanied a now-deleted short video" featured a woman "gazing at the ring." The tweet "especially struck a chord with women who are sick and tired of seeing their sports knowledge, passion and fanship being marginalized due to their gender." Frederickson notes it is "best to admit when you messed up," which is what made the Cardinals' handling of yesterday's mistake as "disappointing as the initial error." The team's official statement read in part, "We received some feedback that it may have either offended some people or created confusion as to whether it was for women only, so we promptly removed it" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 5/10). The RIVERFRONT TIMES's Sarah Fenske asked, "Why insult half your fan base?" The Cardinals must know the team has "hundreds of thousands of female fans who love baseball much more than they love jewelry" (RIVERFRONTIMES.com, 5/9).
FACING THE BACKLASH: NBCSPORTS.com's Bill Baer wrote the Cardinals found out that a "thoughtless slip-up" on social media can "result in a tidal wave of backlash -- which, by the way, was completely warranted" (NBCSPORTS.com, 5/9). In N.Y., Dan Gunderman wrote it is safe to assume the team "might need a different strategy for social media marketing in the near future" (NYDAILYNEWS.com, 5/9). In K.C., Pete Grathoff: "If any story deserved the facepalm emoji, it would be this one. ... What a dumb message" (KANSASCITY.com, 5/9). SI.com's Jon Taylor: "It's a bad tweet -- though, honestly, it's not too far afield from the tone-deaf way teams announce and promote Ladies' Nights and other such 'Teach women the sport, because they couldn't possibly understand it on their own' events" (SI.com, 5/9). In DC, Matt Bonesteel: "We're still trying to determine where this tweet ranks on the 'Football 101 for Women' scale" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 5/9).
