Posted on 09/08/2018 5:32:19 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
A jewelry store in Massachusetts is facing backlash after putting up a billboard depicting a man proposing on a football field alongside the words, “If you’re going to take a knee this season, please have a ring in your hand!”
The billboard, put up by Garieri Jewelers on a New England highway, was reportedly received positively after being erected on Sept. 1, according to The Washington Post.
Scott Garieri, the owner of the jewelry store, told The Post he intended for the advertisement to be a witty “play on words,” in reference to NFL players who choose to kneel in protest during the national anthem.
“The way that the football season was, everyone had a thing about taking the knee,” he said. Garieri added he and his daughter, the store manager, came up with the “catchy” advertisement.
Garieri said reactions toward the billboard changed after a driver snapped a photo of the ad in Charlton, Massachusetts, and shared it on Facebook, accusing it of "being racist."
After that, Garieri said online users quickly began to rate his jewelry store, which has been family-owned since 1947, with one star. He claims many also threatened to vomit on his store’s showcases and urinate on the sidewalk outside the store.
Garieri also said one person wrote “Alexandria why don’t you just kill yourself?”
“That’s when it started to get out of hand,” he said.
Garieri said he didn’t give considerable thought to the reason why players kneel when designing the billboard.
“We’re a country store, we just try to do advertising in a way that’s affordable and brings in traffic,” he said. He did not say when he plans to remove the billboard.
On-field demonstrations began in 2016 with former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who rose to prominence after being the first player to take a knee during the national anthem to protest racial inequality in the U.S. Kaepernick has been targeted frequently by President Trump and his base.
Criticism for the billboard follows the same week that Nike released its latest ad campaign featuring Kaepernick.
In the new ad, Kaepernick says, “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything." He has remained unsigned for two years after becoming the face of the protest movement.
Nike’s online sales appear to have surged in the week since it announced Kaepernick as the face of its latest ad campaign.
Liberals showing their intolerance, hate, and cannot co-exist with others .
The arty of hate racism, and intolerance rears it;s ugly head again, and no matter how many stickers they have, no matter how many times they are tolerance and we have hate the roof is always out there showing who they really are.
Actually, he has remained unsigned because he is a lousy quarterback who was going to be cut and needed another way to earn fame and money.
Liberals showing their intolerance, hate, and cannot co-exist with others .
The party of hate racism, and intolerance rears it;s ugly head again, and no matter how many stickers they have, no matter how many times they shout tolerance, and we have hate the roof is always out there showing who they really are.
There may be contact between a knee and his jewels if he doesn’t stop acting like this.
I thought it was cute, I guess you would have to be pretty closed minded and insanely intolerant to see it any other way.
It’s very cute. Charlton is a small town, a suburb of Worcester. You wouldn’t expect a lot of extreme leftists there.
I can’t wait to get out of this state.
Insanely intolerant does pretty much cover the response to this clever advertisement. The Left is busy deepening the divisions in this country and will not stand for anyone diminishing their efforts with plain old good humor.
Actually he’s remained unsigned because nobody wants a teammate who can’t be trusted not to make a play for their girlfriends.
https://www.tmz.com/2015/08/07/aldon-smith-colin-kaepernick-fight-practice-before-arrest/
Note the date, and that the chain of events that led to him leaving the league started immediately afterwards.
When they said “Free Speech”, they didn’t mean for you.
Extreme leftists are Legion.
A word I don't use lightly.
Charlton went for Trump in 2016.
.
Hoax!
I’ve tried sending an email of support to them via their website, but nothing happens when I push “enter.” I assume their site is somehow blocked.
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