The New York Knicks have put a stop to a series of advertisements that formerly appeared at bus stops and various places around New York City. Apparently the team realized that running an ad campaign that is loaded with insults is not the best idea.
Here are some examples of what the ads said, via Pro Basketball Talk:
It’s Friday night. You can either go out and attempt to pick up sixes and sevens or stay home and watch Kidd dish out dimes.”‘
“It’s Friday night. You can either watch East Village poets do battle or see real artists slam.”
“It’s Friday night. You can either see a Broadway harness malfunctioning or you can watch real men fly.”
The first one can either be interpreted as an insult to the women in New York or a shot at whoever’s reading the ad, saying that person could only land a six or a seven anyway. Personally, I think it’s pretty funny. I also find the second one humorous since I would obviously rather go to a basketball game than a poetry slam, but that’s a matter of preference.
As for the third ad, that’s taking it a bit too far. At a production of “Spiderman: Turn off the Dark” two years ago, a stunt double was seriously injured after his harness malfunctioned and he fell nearly 30 feet. That’s obviously not something to joke around about, and of all the ads I’m surprised the MSG Company didn’t realize how offensive that one was.
Darren Rovell of ESPN.com, reported that the Knicks have pulled the ads in the wake of a ton of backlash from the general public and in particular a group of poets.
