Terrible Riders promo

[Blueforlife]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/roughriders-saskatchewan-ad-sexist-girl-math-news-cbc-1.7127668

[TecnoGenius]

Well at least they explained it was because they were trying to be "hip" for the younger generation.  I don't Tok, so I have no idea how big this stuff is, but I'll assume the gen-z laps it up or it wouldn't be enough of a thing for SSK to try to latch onto.

At least they explain how it was the women (who ostensibly use Tok and like this meme format) of the SSK RR staff who came up with this.

There's often no winning, and it's hard to make sure you don't offend everybody.  They tried something edgy and hip (copying Tok ideas) and it backfired.  Oh well.  Next.

Personally, I think people need to chill.  But I'll pass it by my wife to get her take!    Better yet, forget what us old fogeys think and ask the 18-29 demo this is targeting what they think.  Maybe they love it?  It'd be ironic if it got thousands of them to sign up for SSK STs, eh?

P.S. I climb the 200-level stairs every game, so I'm due a seltzer!    And those SSK stairs are 50% longer, so those fans deserve 2 seltzers for sure!

[blue_gold_84]

Saw this on the CFL subreddit yesterday. Oof!

[Sir Blue and Gold]

Broke a couple important marketing best practices here and paid the price. Minus one pant stripe.

1) Assume everyone gets your message, not just your bullseye demo. What will they think?
2) Be very, very, very careful when taking social media language/culture/trends into other mediums.

"Girl Math" was started by a woman and then championed by women. If you take away the delivery of that message -- that is young women on TikTok -- it obviously lands completely different.

In fact, take away two pant strips. Lazy (but probably well meaning) simpletons over in Regina.

[Horseman]

Yeah a BLUNDER, but...they signed washed up American Import receiver Keesan Johnson.

[theaardvark]

Yeah a BLUNDER, but...they signed washed up American Import receiver Keesan Johnson.

Not to be confused with Keyshawn Johnson...who retired in 2007...

[Sir Blue and Gold]

Not to be confused with Keyshawn Johnson...who retired in 2007...

Keyshawn Johnson would have better a better signing.

[TecnoGenius]

Riderfans forum thread is an interesting read on this topic.  After all, it is happening "to them"...

Someone dug up this gold:
https://www.riderfans.com/forum/filedata/fetch?id=1093190&d=1709158497

Hey CBC, how come no outrage on that "girl math"?  (P.S. Redblacks clearly did it "better".)

[TecnoGenius]

Regina radio station CJME talks about this for 15 mins:

https://www.cjme.com/the-green-zone/

Green Zone Feb 28 Hour 2, 18:00 in.  A mix of opinions.

[Pete]

Riderfans forum thread is an interesting read on this topic.  After all, it is happening "to them"...

Someone dug up this gold:
https://www.riderfans.com/forum/filedata/fetch?id=1093190&d=1709158497

Hey CBC, how come no outrage on that "girl math"?  (P.S. Redblacks clearly did it "better".)

so either
1 The rider fans have no sense of humor
2. rider fans can't get math that doesn't use fingers and toes
3. rider marketing dept not only managed to insult/tick off their fans, but they plagiarized another club in order to do it and couldn't get that right

[blue_gold_84]

Hey CBC, how come no outrage on that "girl math"?  (P.S. Redblacks clearly did it "better".)

What outrage?

[TecnoGenius]

What outrage?

I reread the CBC article and 90% of what it talked about was the outrage, with them getting many different people and organizations to blast the campaign (i.e. outrage).  The one quote of someone saying "chill" or "you don't understand" was buried at the end of the article, where 90% of the audience will never reach.  Even this forum had a far more balanced set of responses to this issue.  The CBC article mainly tried to tell you what to feel/think and get you outraged.

"She was not happy"
"I lost my mind"
"I was gobsmacked"
"Toxic diet culture"
"fans expressed their dismay"
"misogynistic"
"actually harmful"
"one step forward, 10 steps back here"

Again, I have no skin in this game as who cares if the Riders dig their own grave?  I'm definitely not outraged, but then again, I rarely am.  I'm not on Tok so I can't speak to the ubiquity of the meme.  But I am aware of how these articles are generally laid out in order to further the narrative and hide any balance below the fold, and once you see the methodology you can never unsee it.

Why did the author bury the "developed and deployed by women within our marketing team" point in the very last paragraph??  Why not lead with that?  Isn't that maybe the most important part, before you start screaming "misogyny", as surely the all-women team this are not misogynistic??

P.S. I told my wife about all this and she said "meh".  She had never heard of the meme format, and doesn't give a hoot either way.

P.P.S. I laugh at the accusation that the Riders are misogynistic... have they been to a game @ Mosaic?  I'm guessing it's at least half women.  Even more than @ IGF/PAS.  And they come out to WPG for the Banjo Bowl in droves.  I see far more groups of women than guys, and I love chatting them up.  The last thing the Riders would intentionally do is sabotage their female fan base.  I bet the author has never been to a single Riders game.

[The Fresh Prince Of Belair, MB]

I reread the CBC article and 90% of what it talked about was the outrage
The CBC article mainly tried to tell you what to feel/think and get you outraged.

Welcome to the new age media.