Can A Tattoo Stop #BoycottBradenton?

BRADENTON, FL — A $6,000 marketing decision meant to endear Pittsburgh Penguins fans to the Bradenton area didn’t have quite the intended effect.

While the “Let’s Go Pens!” yellow-and-black rally towels sponsored by the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau seemed to delight Penguins fans on Friday, Tampa Bay Lightning backers had a very different take on the situation. The local outrage, in fact, came fast and furious with fans taking to social media to promote the hashtag #BoycottBradenton. News of the apparent slap to the local National Hockey League team quickly went viral.

One fan was so upset with the city’s perceived backing of the Lightning’s competition in the Eastern Conference Finals, he declared on Twitter that “Bradenton is no longer part of the Tampa Bay area.”

Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton convention bureau, went public on Monday with an explanation for the kerfuffle. The marketing spend, he said, was meant to remind Pittsburgh fans of all the attractions the area has to offer – especially when the Pittsburgh Pirates are at McKechnie Field each year for spring training. After all, the two cities are quite closely tied courtesy of that connection.

The towels, Falcione said, were intended as keepsakes for Penguins fans that might stick around in their homes for years to come. So, “any time they want to come on vacation specifically to Florida, hopefully they’ll think of Bradenton, Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key.”

Falcione said he felt bad about the turn of events, but wasn’t embarrassed or ashamed of the decision. After all, Manatee County has seen an uptick of 37 percent in visitors from Pittsburgh year-over-year, Falcione was quoted by the Bradenton Herald as saying.

Justification for the towel spend aside, Bradenton mayoral candidate Warren Merriman says the city needs to make greater amends to woo back Lightning fans and stop the #BoycottBradenton movement in its tracks.

The towel purchase “caused national backlash with the hashtag of #BoycottBradenton, and there has been no response from the incumbent Bradenton Mayor to explain that the stakeholders and business owners specifically in Bradenton should not be punished for a poorly thought out public relations promotion by the CVB,” Merriman said in a statement.

Merriman went on the Mike Calta radio show Wednesday and got a Tampa Bay Lightning logo tattooed on his back “all in an effort to bring visitors back to Bradenton.”

“The residents of Bradenton are huge supporters of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and there should be no misinterpretation of that fact based on a poorly thought-out marketing idea,” Merriman explained to Patch. “If me getting a Tampa Bay Lightning tattoo can bring Bradenton, Florida back in a favorable light to tourists, then I have no hesitation in doing this for the people and business owners of ‘The Friendly City.’”

Mayor Wayne Poston had no comment on Merriman’s statement. He did, however, say that “Elliott Falcione of the Bradenton Area Tourist Development Council, who made the buy, has responded very clearly.”

Whether the explanation for the telltale towels, or Merriman's tattoo, will fly with Lightning fans remains to be seen. Fans were still taking to Twitter on Wednesday to move the #BoycottBradenton effort forward.

Poston faces Merriman and Eleuterio Salazar Jr. in the Nov. 8 city election. The Tampa Bay Lightning face the Pittsburgh Penguins now in the Eastern Conference Finals. The winning team goes on to the final round of play for the Stanley Cup.

Photo of the Lightning’s Amalie Arena courtesy of the City of Tampa Facebook page