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By Deanna Paul | The Washington Post
A historic New England highway hosts a controversial ad: a sign of a young man kneeling near the midfield.
The twist is that he does not protest, but offers.
The Garieri Jewelers ad reads, "If you're going to kneel this season, please have a ring in your hand!
It is a reference to President Donald Trump's attack on the NFL and its kneeling players in protest anthem, and something that jeweler Scott Garieri of Massachusetts has called "a game". of words "spiritual.
"The way the football season was, everyone had one thing about taking the knee," he said. For example, Scott Garieri and Alexandria, his daughter and store manager, came up with what he called a "catchy" ad.
The initial reactions to the billboard, he said, were extremely positive. But the mood quickly changed after a disgruntled driver stopped on the road to Charlton, Massachusetts, took a picture and posted it on Facebook, accusing the publicity of the event. to be "racist".
The Garieris tried to spread the storm of furious comments that followed.
"We want to sell engagement rings. We sell love, not hatred, "said Alexandria. "We never wanted to be offensive, he was always supposed to be satirical."
Online users quickly began evaluating the store with a star. The comments were posted on social networks, threatening to vomit on jewelry showcases and urinate on the adjacent sidewalk. So, says Garieri, someone wrote: "Alexandria, why do not you kill yourself?
"That's when everything started to go wrong," he said.
Racial justice and police brutality, the issues that drove NFL players to kneel, were not in the minds of Garieri, a New England Patriots fan, who calls Tom Brady "best coach" of the world". – during the design phase of the display panel.
Yet, as Trump criticizes Nike for a recent announcement starring former quarterback Colin Kaepernick, the first NFL player to kneel in protest, the phrase turn has hit a nerve.
The family business has been in business since 1947. Garieri, a second-generation jeweler, takes over after his father's death in 1978.
"We are a country store, we are simply trying to advertise in an affordable and traffic-generating way," he said, adding that he wanted to create billboards filled with 39, humor, placed on a band of half a dozen others. . He did the same thing in the past.
When Alexandria was married, Bijouterie Garieri published an ad titled "A happy woman, a happy life." In the background, a picture of the future couple. A year ago, another provocative panel featured a diamond engagement ring next to the words, "Make it speechless or change."
The announcement of last year has sparked criticism and accusations that Garieri was sexist.
"Ironically, my daughter was the one who came with this one," he laughed.
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