What were the ads? I didn't get to see them.
Basically, they were ads that ran prior to the AU/UA game that dinged both UA and AU fans, playing on the "mixed marriage" thing. Story copied below.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
ROY L. WILLIAMS
News staff writer
Bromberg's is apologizing for a tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign
that offended some Auburn University fans with references to
tobacco-chomping relatives and burped versions of the school's fight
song.
The Birmingham jeweler received phone calls and e-mails from upset
Auburn fans over an ad that described the school as a "Cow College" and
mentioned "tobacky spittin'" grandmothers.
Bromberg Executive Vice President Frank Bromberg III said Monday the
Auburn ad and a similar one targeting Alabama fans still living in the
Bear Bryant era were meant in jest.
"The point of the ad was to show that true love conquers all, even if
one person is an Alabama fan and the other is an Auburn fan," Bromberg
said.
Bromberg, a University of Alabama graduate, said the jeweler didn't get
complaints from Alabama fans. That's because the Auburn ad was
mean-spirited, said Auburn graduate Kara Kennedy, who works as director
of external affairs at Samford University' School of Business.
"Bromberg's just offended half of the state, and that's not good
marketing," added Kennedy, who has worked in public relations for over
a decade. "They've lost me as a customer."
The Auburn ad reads: "Whoever said love conquers all' obviously wasn't
in love with a Cow College grad. But even though her grandma was the
state tobacky-spittin' champ and she can burp out every bar of War
Eagle, your world revolves around her. So turn her thoughts from blue
and orange to wedding white with the perfect engagement ring from
Bromberg's."
The Alabama ad talks being in love with "Tide Pride gal" and "countless
stories of rigged officials and national championships won 20 years
before she was born."
Bromberg said the ad was created by Birmingham's Intermark Group. He
said Bromberg's approved the ad, but now wishes it hadn't. The ads
appeared in the chain's stores and in Friday's Birmingham News.
Bromberg said posters displaying both ads have been pulled from stores.
"If we had known this would be so offensive, we wouldn't have run the
ad," Bromberg said. He added: "In retrospect we now know the Auburn ad
went probably a lot further than it should have."
Jerry Chandler, an assistant professor of communications at
Jacksonville State University, said Bromberg's advertising misstep is
taking attention off its good name and long history in Alabama.
Bromberg's, around since 1836, is believed to be the state's oldest
family-owned business.
"They created a problem that didn't exist, and that's the last thing
you want to do," Chandler said. "Companies are supposed to try to put
out flames, not create them."
Bromberg said fallout from the ad spread further Saturday when copies
of the Auburn ad were distributed outside Jordan-Hare Stadium without
showing the Alabama ad, leading some to feel Bromberg's was picking on
Tiger fans.
"Some are calling for a boycott of Bromberg's," Bromberg said. "We are
responding to anybody that contacts us to say we're sorry."
Intermark issued a statement Monday saying the two ads were meant to be
humorous, poking fun at the history and traditions of Alabama and
Auburn.
"We hope that graduates and fans of both schools took the ads in the
spirit of fun in which they were intended," Intermark said. " In no way
were the ads to be taken seriously or literally and we sincerely
apologize if anyone was offended."