Dan Snyder has stood by the Redskins name and he’s often gone out of his way to site support from fans, Native Americans and players as reasons to carry on with Washington’s moniker.
Last month, a new site called Redskinsfacts.com launched which seemed to back Snyder’s assertions that there is a huge amount of support for the team’s name. After all, here’s a site which proclaims that it is “a growing online community of passionate Washington Redskins fans and others who support the team’s use of its name and logo.”
The only problem with the site? It’s most likely not a grassroots campaign at all as the site appears to be tied to a heavy-weight PR firm that is often hired to deal with major public relations disasters. A Slate investigation found this:
“This new, probably-not-grass-roots website also appears to be part of a PR operation. This one bears the fingerprints of Burson-Marsteller, a communications firm best known for its crisis management services. Burson-Marsteller has done PR work for, among many others, the manufacturer of the Three Mile Island plant, Johnson & Johnson (in the wake of early-1980s Tylenol poisonings), and military contractor Blackwater USA. The firm’s crisis management page also notes “The Lady Gaga Concert Debacle” as a representative case study.”
The key evidence which points to Burson-Marstellar’s involvement in Redskinsfacts.com includes domain registrations, the site’s source code and the fact that nearly every early follower of the site were Burson-Marstellar employees.
Via @josh_levin, "Redskins Facts" has burson-marsteller hallmarks. The early followers of @redskinsfacts are all b-m. http://t.co/1bYKaNpzMZ
— Dan Steinberg (@dcsportsbog) July 30, 2014
The team itself appears to have foregone any pretense of Redskinsfacts.com being a grassroots, independent organization as well:
New Redskins press conference screens promoting http://t.co/WGHdmY6Ukh pic.twitter.com/1NINC5rxTN
— Dan Steinberg (@dcsportsbog) July 30, 2014
People appear to have caught on at least. Take this tweet from Redskinsfacts.com
It's Washington's team. Its YOUR time. Support your Redskins! #HTTR
— Redskins Facts (@redskinsfacts) July 30, 2014
And the glorious responses below it:
Poor Dan Snyder can’t even orchestrate his own fake grassroots campaign effectively.
