The San Francisco Giants are in the World Series, which means companies are going out of their way to latch onto the bandwagon to get whatever kind of publicity they can with the team in the national spotlight. Today, one company took things way beyond “too far.”
A company called Boatbound released a press release today saying they had purchased the naming rights to McCovey Cove, the body of water beyond the right field fence at AT&T Park, and would rename it #BoatboundBay (hashtag included). Now considering McCovey Cove is a public waterway with no official name, the press release didn’t make much sense. How could a company buy the naming rights to a public waterway? It had to be a hoax.
And it was a hoax. It should have died as a stupid, false press release that nobody saw. But then NBC Bay Area picked up the story and ran it on their website, and things went downhill from there. NBC has since changed the story (which you can find here) to reflect that the whole thing was a hoax, but one look at the URL shows they fell for it hook, line, and sinker. And since a major, reputable news organization had the story on their website, Giants fans on social media exploded.
It wasn’t pretty: Willie McCovey was recently released from the hospital after battling a life-threatening illness, and the thought of renaming his cove (even in spirit, since it’s not an official name) was considered a slap in the face to a Giants legend. The vitriol was so thick, the Giants had to take time to respond:
The claim that naming rights of McCovey Cove have been sold is a hoax and completely false.
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) October 24, 2014
It is also completely disrespectful to one of the greatest #SFGiants of all time.
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) October 24, 2014
The Giants probably really appreciated having to take time away from preparing for game 3 of the World Series to respond to this whole thing. Boatbound, likely realizing it made a huge error in judgment and wanting to do damage control, put up a statement on their website saying they “wanted to jump in before it went too far” and that they’d be making a donation to the Port of San Francisco “to help with the upkeep of McCovey Cove.” They also tweeted out the following:
For the record, we did this out of love for the Giants, Willie, and the cove and meant no disrespect. #nothingbutlove
— Boatbound (@boatbound) October 24, 2014
Ah, they did it out of nothing but love. That’s great. I’m sure the Giants and Willie McCovey appreciate it and feel the love. Nothing like sending out a fake press release and lying about renaming something named after one of the most beloved Giants of all time to show nothing but love.
If there really is no such thing as bad publicity, I guess Boatbound wins the day. I, for one, had never heard of them until the stunt they pulled today. And if I ever need to rent a boat or whatever it is they do, I’ll be sure to avoid patronizing them. Something tells me I’m not the only one who feels that way.
Great job, Boatbound. You managed to insult Giants fans, the Giants organization, and Willie McCovey. A banner day indeed.
