An affiliate of the minor leagues of the Giants of San Francisco has removed the plans of use of “golden diggers” as an alternative team name during a handful of games this year after women were offended by a marketing video.
The Cats of Sacramento River, who play in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League and are currently sharing Sutter Health Park with the athletics of the MLB, announced Thursday that they would play as Sacramento Golden Diggers for five games this season, starting with a home match on April 19 against the Bees Salt Lake City.
The Gold Diggers logo included a bearded man, who seemed to be a minor, wearing a draw on his shoulder and carrying a front lamp with a baseball where the light should be. A promotional video, which has since been deleted from YouTube and online, seems to have stuck with the theme of the gold rush while leaning in the sense of “Digger d’or” which insults women.
The video would have represented two women with dollar panels in place of their eyes looking at a baseball player who had just left a gold mine. One of the women would have worn a top low with a large ring on his finger while being accompanied by a man much older than her.
The River Cats apologized on Friday afternoon in a statement sent by email to Times.
“Our recent marketing campaign for an alternative identity clearly missed the brand,” the team wrote. “Our intention was to creatively reference the rich story of Sacramento and the Pays de l’Or, but our approach was wrong, and we are sorry for the error. We will no longer use this identity.”
The goods featured the names and the Gold Diggers logo – including the female and men t -shirts which had the name in large letters with “baseball” in much smaller letters below and a large dollar panel in gold below – was removed from the online store of the team on Friday noon.
According to Sacramento Bee, several elected officials from Sacramento and West Sacramento attempted Thursday for the River Cats to rub the promotional video online.
“I was dismayed by the announcement of sexist and offensive marketing chosen by a highly respected and loved team,” said the member of the West Sacramento Quirina Orozco municipal council in a statement sent by email to Times. “I speak for many of those who fought to raise women’s voices, remove obstacles to leadership and open trails for women and girls wherever I say that messages like these should be denounced and have no place in our community.
“I am happy that the River Cats have drawn their campaign and hope to work with them on future correction efforts that benefit women and girls throughout our region.”
California Daily Newspapers
