Yahoo Autos Dealership’s College Football Promotion Blows Up Gloriously
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Car dealerships will do all kinds of crazy promotions at local sports events, including college football games, building public goodwill. That likely was behind Rohrman Automotive Group’s Kicks for Cash competition at a recent Purdue football game, but a controversial decision has generated backlash for the dealership chain.
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Student Zachary Spangler excitedly competed in the rigorous event at the August 31 Purdue game against Indiana State. To win, he had to successfully kick 20-, 30-, and 40-yard field goals in just 30 seconds, not an easy feat. But the student did it, being the second Purdue student to ever accomplish such a thing, with the crowd going wild.
His reward was supposed to be a free car lease for two years or $5,000 cash, a sizable sum for a poor college student. But on the Thursday after the game, Spangler heard from Rohrman via email that he had in fact not won, kicking the final ball five one-hundredths of a second too late.
To prove the controversial point, the dealership group sent four different camera angles of his final kick with the clock running, his foot contacting the football just after it ran down to zero.
When the news hit the local community, the backlash was instantaneous. Angry people flooded the dealership group’s social media accounts, sharing some choice words about the decision, reports the Purdue Exponent.
In other words, the effort to public public goodwill backfired big time. With the pressure building, Rohrman reversed its decision, just five days later. Not only is Spangler getting his prize, which he says will be the cash, the dealership group is now donating another $5,000 to the Purdue student section, called the Ross-Ade Brigade, so more of them can travel to away games. It’s an obvious effort to rebuild some public trust.
This just goes to show when businesses, including car dealerships, want to form a positive public image, sometimes they need to just be generous instead of pedantic sticks in the mud.
Images via Rohrman Automotive Group/Facebook
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