The hardreading staff isn’t wired enough to be at the New! Improved! Fenway Park this afternoon for the Red Sox home opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates (huh?), but we did take the time to check out the Boston dailies for all the hopeful/gleeful advertisements that normally accompany the start of a new season.
And there were . . . none.
Nothing in the Boston Globe, nothing (big surprise) in the Boston Herald.
Even odder, the Globe’s 18-page Baseball 2017 preview yesterday had no pom-pom ads, just this:
Exhibit Umpteen: Today’s Business section story by Jon Chesto about Boston Signage Syndrome.
On Boston’s skyline, signs can be a tricky business
Jeff Immelt wanted a headquarters sign that could be seen from Mars.
Or at least that’s what the General Electric CEO jokingly told a crowd of local business leaders when he came to Boston a year ago to celebrate the company’s decision to relocate here.
Good luck with that, Jeff. The Boston Planning & Development Agency is reviewing the company’s new sign as part of broader construction plans for its future Fort Point office, and the rooftop logo will have more earthly dimensions, maybe 35 feet in diameter.
Still, the approval of a tower sign in Boston remains a rare gift, one bestowed upon a select few.
Among them – yes – the Globe’s own gas light.
The Citgo sign in Kenmore Square probably would never get approved today, and yet it has become a beloved landmark, one that Walsh helped save this week by refereeing lease negotiations.
Still, no disclosure.
Hey, Boston media watchers – don’t any of you want a piece of this?
During the past year the hardreading staff has painstakingly noted what must be hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Citgo ads like this one that have run in the Boston Globe.
And yet . . .
Never once in its coverage has the $tately local broadsheet mentioned the paper’s financial interest in the survival of the Kenmore Square icon.
The Citgo sign will remain atop its longtime home in Kenmore Square after the petroleum company reached a deal with its new landlord Wednesday, ending a months-long standoff that had threatened one of the most recognized landmarks of the Boston skyline.
The fate of the rooftop sign had been in question since last year, when the building that hosts it was sold by Boston University to Related Beal, a New York-based development company.
(To be fair graf goes here)
To be fair, the piece by Adam Vaccaro and Tim Logan does include a sort of drive-by disclosure:
The controversy emerged last fall soon after Related Beal bought a total of nine buildings in Kenmore Square from BU for $134 million. Believing its old lease terms of $250,000 to be far below current market rates, the new landlord had wanted Citgo to pay as much as 10 times that amount.
Citgo had previously countered with an offer to pay $500,000, and had launched a public campaign to rally support behind the sign.
Pretty limp, Globeniks. And pretty sad you’re not willing to do the right thing and disclose your financial interest in this story.
But maybe that’s consistent with what editor Brian McGrory said about another recent adberation, which he labeled “part of a larger campaign that is important to the ad client and significant to the Globe.”
But today’s edition of the Herald does feature this full-page ad.
We’re not exactly sure why the vintage Caddy is pictured in the ad – would you really buy time on Boston Herald Radio to sell a used car? Maybe it’s a visual pun, you know, drive sales?
The $tately local broadsheet has run numerous news reports on the sign’s endangered status and numerous Citgo-purchased ads like this one pleading for the sign’s protection.
(The hardcounting staff previously estimated that Citgo has spent five figures on Globe ads. We’re a moron. It’s probably more like $200,000.)
To be sure, $25,000 is lunch money at the John Henry Gazette, but it’s lunch money the paper should disclose whenever it moans about the Citgo sign’s ultimate fate.
(To be clear graf goes here)
To be clear, it’s not the fault of Globe reporter Tim Logan that his many Citgo sign pieces have lacked disclosure. The fault lies with the Globe’s editors.
Regardless, given the latest assault on the Kenmore Square icon, it’s not unreasonable to expect there will be more ads forthcoming from the Boston’s Sign campaign. Oh, wait – like this full-page ad thatcoincidentally appeared in yesterday’s Globe.
Here’s something else that’s not unreasonable: To expect the Globe to disclose its financial interest in the Citgo sign whenever the paper covers that story.
As the hardreading staff has previously noted, Boston BFF (Big Fat Fundsucker) General Electric has a penchant for running full-page ads in the Boston Globe but not the Boston Herald.
Exhibit Umpteen, from Monday’s $tately local broadsheet.
That’s a follow-up to this GE spot on Sunday night’s Academy Awards broadcast.
Millie Dresselhaus, the first woman to win the National Medal of Science in Engineering, died on February 20th, one week before her TV spotlight ran.
So good for GE to memorialize her in print.
But c’mon, GEniks – show some love for the thirsty local tabloid, yeah?
Wicked Nawsome™ sidebar: Could we please retire “wicked awesome” from the Bawston Lexicon? (See Adam Gaffin’s Wicked Good Guide to Boston English for details.) It’s wicked tiresome.
Then again, Friday’s Herald did feature this consolation ad.
Can the coveted Recycle RexAward be far behind for Howie Carr(toon)?
The hardreading staff has a serious beef with the Boston Globe’s Names column, as we noted in a recent post.
Boston Globe ‘Names’ Outs Howie Carr, Stiffs Two-Daily Town
Twice this week the hardreading staff has noted that Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr, a charter member of the Donald Trump coat holder brigade, is also now a member of Trump’s swanky Florida resort Mar-a-Lago.
We also noted that neither Boston daily had reported on Carr’s quantum leap in social status, ending yesterday’s post this way: “Hey – you Namesniks at the Globe: Wanna grab a piece of this?”
Apparently they did, since this appears under Mark Shanahan’s byline in today’s snakey local broadsheet.
Trump backer Howie Carr is now a Mar-a-Lago Club member
Conservative talk-show host Howie Carr fancies himself a man of the people, albeit one who went to an exclusive prep school (Deefield Academy), attended a fine liberal arts college (University of North Carolina), and resides in a wealthy Boston enclave (Wellesley). So it should be no surprise that, like any other average Joe, Carr has become a newly-minted member of the Mar-a-Lago Club, President Trump’s posh Palm Beach, Fla., retreat.
That, not surprisingly, went over like the metric system here at the Global Worldwide Headquarters. But, hey, that’s show biz.
Then again . . . we did seem to tap into some basic sense of decency in the Namesniks, as yesterday’s column featured something new (at least as far as we can tell) – honest to God attribution.
Of course, that does nothing for the hardbleeding staff.
One week after the stunning Super Bowl win by the New England Patriots, the Boston Globe has published its obligatory Special Commemorative Section.
The 26-page celebration of all things Pats is chockablock with advertising such as this ad from Marty Walsh & the People of Boston, which features so many logos you’d think Walsh was Mayor of NASCAR.
All told, there are five full-page ads in the section (everyone from Bob’s Discount Furniture to TAG Heuer) and ten half-page ads (ranging from Tostitos to Rutgers Football). An adstravaganza, in other words.
Crosstown at the Boston Herald, meanwhile, there’s no special section, just the regular Sunday Sports.
The not-so-special section features just four Pats-related ads, starting with this must-have.
There are also ads for a New England Patriots Super Bowl LI Commemorative Fan Ring, the New England Patriots Super Bowl 51 Champions Legacy Decanter Set, and the First-Ever Tom Brady Gold Dollar.
Collect them all! Trade them with your friends!
And feel just a little bad for the thirsty local tabloid.
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It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 