'Throw Rocks At Girls' Jewelry Store Billboard Stirs Serious Controversy
By Mustafa GatollariNov. 19 2020, Updated 9:54 p.m. ET
There's a saying in the PR game that goes something like this: "There's no such thing as bad publicity."
Thanks to the Internet and the prominence of social media, if a company makes a marketing snafu, then everyone and their grandma will know about it faster than ever before.
Something that Spicer Greene Jewelers learned the hard way when they put up this billboard with a joke that many people are appalled at.
"Sometimes, it's ok to throw rocks at girls..."
Yeah, you read that right. The only way to probably make this billboard even more offensive is to Photoshop some precious stones over a Stoning of Soraya movie poster.
Once the web caught wind of the offensive billboard, people started blasting the North Carolina based jewelry store as being horribly out-of-touch.
It garnered so much attention that even Chelsea Clinton tweeted about it.
Some people suggested the business hire a new marketing whiz.
"Throw rocks at girls. Diamonds = rocks. Who at your org approved this? Maybe hire someone else?" one Twitter user suggested.
Others were just plain offended and grossed out.
Others had their own ideas as to who should get rocks thrown at them.
All of the negative feedback had Spicer Greene running to put out the PR fire.
To whom we have offended with our recent billboard, please accept our apologies. We do not condone violence of any kind...
Posted by Spicer Greene Jewelers on Thursday, March 23, 2017
The jewelry store said that they were going to take the ad down early and promised that 10 percent of their sales will benefit victims of domestic violence and rape to further apologize for offending people. As far as businesses saying "sorry" goes, that's actually pretty damn good.
Of course, there were some who thought that people were too easily offended.
Think the ad was in poor taste? Or are people too easily offended by everything nowadays?
