The skit that “missed the mark” occurred in a break in play during the second quarter of Charlotte’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday. The child was brought onto the court with Hugo, the Hornets’ mascot, dressed as Santa Claus. After a letter to Santa requesting a PS5 was read out loud, a cheerleader came out with a bag containing the video game console.
The young fan was visibly overjoyed as he received the pricy gift. However, according to an online acquaintance, he was less happy when the cameras turned off and a Hornets staffer took it away, replacing it with a jersey.
I swear The Boys gets more and more blatant with how evil Corporate America is, but cmon, this episode is just completely ridiculous. Not even Homelander would be that ev…
Wait this happened in a REAL Sportsball game? This is not a bit? sugh
I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed
I feel like this is so boneheaded that it has to be the case where the staff member in charge of this giveaway just wanted to keep the PS5 themselves and thought the kids wouldn’t complain about the ol’ switcheroo! This just even sounds like something Michael Scott would have done in The Office.
No, Michael Scott is a moron, not a jackass. He wouldn’t pull this shit. He’s tone deaf, he constantly thinks he’s doing the right thing without realizing why what he’s doing has the opposite of the intended effect even when it’s obvious to everyone else. Giving a kid something he wants and then taking it away when no one’s look is a move of calculated evil.
He’d imply heavily a PS5 then give the kid a Jersey, at no point would he actually have the thing in the kid’s hand and then take it back.
Maybe that’s just me, but I don’t see Michael Scott as a character that would knowingly choose to do something immoral. He’d do a bad deed, but without realizing it.
Mike Scott’s more the “We’re taking away free tampons on the women’s room, because we just don’t have the money for luxury goods.” type, who’s then baffled when he’s called sexist because he legitimately believed tampons were a luxury. Not the “Promote a woman? Are you insane? This is a man’s office sweetheart!” type.
I could totally see Dwight taking the PS5 for himself and mocking the kid over it though. Even then he’d do it out of Chaos, not Evil.
That one was not on the bingo board.
It comes in the 2025 expansion that nobody asked for. :/
It’d be nice if people stopped acting like fucking psychos.
$500 for good press or $0 for bad. Looks like Charlotte is as bad at math as they are at basketball.
This means there was at least one meeting where this plan was discussed and approved by multiple staffers who have jobs and salaries and manage to find their way to work and back home at night.
I think I know where they could have gotten the idea.
In re-runs of old gameshows, it’s not unheard of for them to edit the clips to look like the prize is Insert Sponsor Here, when the prize is actually something different. You can really notice this on Kid’s Gameshows when the prize is something like an Xbox 360 for a gameshow that took place in 2002. (When a PS2 would be fair more likely)
However that’s for RE-RUNS of PRE-TAPED SHOWS, meaning the person who won the original prize got the original prize and original airings would have shown said prize. The only “change” would been purely for advertisement purposes only.
That’s very different from “You’re getting an all-expenses paid trip to the Bahamas!” and then backstage they say “And here’s an old Terminator T-Shirt or something, the one we had in storage that doesn’t have the custard stain.”
Which is very much what this situation was.
They probably heard about this practice and assumed that they could give a fake prize that’s sponsor friendly, and then the real prize is something far less extravagant. Which tells me that they did not run this by their lawyers.
Likely it cost more to have said meeting than the ps5 itself
I can almost guarantee that one of them wanted the PS5 for themselves, and insisted on swapping it out so they could take the console.
PlayStations?
Children.
I thought that was still ongoing, what with all the school shootings
What fucking cheapskates.
Do they make their players turn out their pockets after each game in case they picked up some loose change off the ground too? Lol
I bet the price of that console was going to break their bank.
Jfc… How much of a psychopathic piece of shit do you have to be, to hurt a kid’s feelings like that?! I fucking hate people.
Corporate America…
It reminds me of the Santa mall scene in a Christmas Story
I mean I would get it if they had an empty box out on the court for the show, and then having to take away the empty show box… But they gave the kid a jersey instead? Wtf?
I don’t understand how what you’re describing is better. If you make the kid think he’s just gotten a PS5 then to take it away is incredibly cruel. Giving him a jersey is just insult cherry on the shameful cake. Unless I am misunderstanding what you’re proposing?
Pretty sure they are saying use an empty box on the court (lighter, no risk of breaking), and then take away the empty box afterwards (implied to give them an actual, not-empty box afterwards).
I think they meant like theyd still give em a ps5 it just wouldn’t have been in the box on camera.
The skit that “missed the mark” . . .
Quit sucking up to corporate America, yahoo sports writer. The Hornets farked up a simple PR event in every way it was possible TO fark up. They baited and switched a PS5 with a t-shirt and thought no one would find out about it.
And they have so damn much money that giving him the PS5 would have been like you or me flicking a penny to the kid.
People suck sometimes, I swear.
That sounds about right, I’ve never gotten anything nice from a hornet. The one time I did get something from a hornet, it was a painful disappointment.
they apologized or gave it back. this apology was planned.
Goddamn hornets, this is why everyone prefers bees
Speak for yourself. Bees are an invasive species given an unfair advantage through their alliance with humanity. If they aren’t native to an area, they are a pest that competes with local pollinators and drives them toward extinction
Bees did nothing wrong
But why just speak for yourself when you could speak for everyone?
You’re welcome!
describes every domesticated animal
That’s called theft. Legally a gift is irrevocable once it’s given.
Indeed, there was a story a while back where a bar had a contest for their staff; Whoever could sell the most drinks would receive a new Toyota.
Well one woman who really needed a new car busted her ass for that, and was taking to a parking lot where she was given a stuffed toy of Yoda from Star Wars; a “Toy Yoda”
Well she sued over this joke, and actually won because during the contest she specifically asked what kind of Toyota it was and was told that it very specifically was a real car that would be paid for in full and put in her name. Which invalidated any claim to this being a gag or a hoax.
He was given an empty box for show, letting him keep it wouldn’t make it any better.
They never intended on giving the kid the gift. If they allowed them to go home with the PS5, and then requested it back the next day, then the family would have a good argument that ownership was transferred to them. This was just a bad joke.
Edit: on lemmy.world it’s like I never left reddit!
That’s utter nonsense. A gift only counts if you make it home with the gift? Where did you come up with that?
The donor of the gift must have a present intent to make a gift of the property to the donee
Intent needs to be proven or it’s not a gift. They did not intend on giving a gift.
The cheerleader and other people around were reportedly also confused when the PS5 was confiscated. The child’s uncle was apparently informed he wouldn’t get to keep the gift, but not the child himself.
They unfortunately made the kid fully believe their whole intent was to give him the gift. That’s so sad for the kid. :(
I wonder how this would play out in court, though. The company can argue that it was the uncle’s responsibility to inform the kid as he was with him, but the kid’s parents can argue the uncle wasn’t his legal guardian and that he needed to be informed personally to play along.
Idk, this armchair is comfy though. lol
I’m guessing it’s based on the rules of the schoolyard game to run from one side of a field to the other while avoiding the corporate bullies in the center.
Intent matters but not if the intent was to deceive. If the act had all the elements that represent giving a gift, then legally it WAS giving a gift. Otherwise all gifts could be taken back at any time just by claiming that it was actually a joke.
Why would the act of going home change the legality? Or intent?
If i take a $20 bill and hand it to a stranger in front of witnesses and say, “Here you go, this is a gift.”
If in 5 mins, I snatch that bill back and walk away. That’s legal? Because he didn’t touch his house first, and I never had intent to give a gift?
It’s like a game of tag, once an item is exchanged you best start running home!
That’s why birthday parties are traditionally held at home
Source: I made it up
