Daily BrewNova Scotia marathon apologetic for poorly-worded newspaper advertisement
Your heart has to go out to the people behind the advertising campaign for the Blue Nose Marathon, whose once-innocuous promotion for Atlantic Canada's largest run in now suddenly cloaked in sensitivity.
A full-page advertisement that appeared in the Halifax Chronicle Herald on Monday asks, "Do you smell something burning?"
Not the best way to commemorate last week's Boston Marathon bombing, which took place only about 650 kilometres from where the Bluenose Marathon is set to run this weekend.
“The ad was meant to represent the burn of running,” marathon co-chair Gerry Walsh told CTV Atlantic. “Unfortunately, the timing of that one was bad, unintended, and we’re very sorry for what happened.”
Organizers say the ad copy was prepared long before the Boston Marathon bombing killed three people and injured scores more. No one involved in the race or involved in printing the advertisement connected their ad to the bombing before it was too late.
An apology went out in Tuesday's paper, assuring readers the advertisement "was in no way related to recent events in Boston."
That goes without saying, no one in the racing community would purposely issue such a cringe-worthy double entendre. Indeed, there are likely to by much solemner memorials for the Boston victims at the Blue Nose Marathon.
The Chronicle Herald has a nice profile on a 24-year-old who is running her first marathon in honour of the victims in Boston.
A reply posted to a local radio station’s Facebook page reads:
We offer our most sincere apology for the ad that ran in today’s paper. Please know it was in no way related to recent events in Boston.
Developed and uploaded in March to await publication, the ad made reference to experiencing the burn of running—of course, given the tragic events in Boston, it took on a most unintended and unfortunate meaning.
We are sorry and embarrassed that we did not catch this prior to publication and deeply regret any negative association this has created for the event and all who support and participate in it.
Here is a short video made for the Blue Nose Marathon, absent any unfortunate subtext.
(Photo via FX 101.9's Facebook page)
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