Petco jumps in on New England's feud with Roger Goodell with new billboard
New England Patriots fans and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell haven’t seen eye to eye in recent years, and it’s easy to understand why.
The root of the feud for many started when Goodell suspended Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in 2015 after the “Deflategate” scandal.
Three years later, it seems, Boston still isn’t over it — and businesses are taking sides now, too.
Petco — a national pet supply store — put up a billboard along Interstate 93 in Boston on Monday. Naturally, the advertisement took a shot at PetSmart, one of its biggest competitors. But it also decided to jump into the beef between Patriots fans and the head of the NFL.
“Goodell shops at PetSmart,” the billboard reads.
Jordan Goldenberg, Petco’s vice president of brand and creative, said the company was simply just trying to do something different with the billboard, and didn’t want to let such a great opportunity go to waste.
“We’ve been trying to have more fun with the brand,” Goldenberg said. “We had this opportunity with the billboard in Boston, and being so close to the draft, we thought, ‘what could we do that’s daring, fun and brave?’
“We thought it could be fun to call out the culture around football in Boston.”
Only time will tell if the advertisement will actually boost Petco’s business in Massachusetts. So far, though, the reaction to the advertisement as been incredibly positive.
“People really do see it in a positive way in that community,” Goldenberg said. “Seeing people actually get it is great.”
One thing is for sure, though: Patriots fans’ feud with the NFL commissioner is alive and well.
And if Goodell stumbled upon the billboard in Boston?
“I think he would think it’s really funny,” Goldenberg said.
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