A California baseball team ditched changing its nickname to the Gold Diggers after the marketing gimmick prompting outrage over the sexist trope.
The Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, had planned to wear alternate uniforms with the new name for five games this season — beginning on Saturday against the Salt Lake Bees.
“Inspired by the regional history of the California Gold Rush, this new identity offers a connection to the significant impact of this era when Sacramento grew as the closest major city to the gold fields,” the River Cats told the Sacramento Bee.
But a promotional video for the name change that aired last month sparked outrage after it featured two women with dollar signs flashing in their eyes upon seeing a player.
In the now-deleted YouTube video posted by the River Cats, a baseball player emerges from a gold mine carrying a pickaxe.
As he walks through Sacramento, two women — each accompanied by a male partner — notice him and turn their attention away from their companions.
Animated dollar signs appear in the women’s eyes as the player crosses the Tower Bridge to West Sacramento, where he trades his pickaxe and a sack of golden baseballs for a bat.
“I shouldn’t have to explain why this video is bad, but hey, maybe you hit your head recently: ‘Gold Digger’ is not a nice name,” wrote Sacramento Bee columnist Robin Epley, calling out the nickname as “misogynist.”
“It’s not a name typically used in any fashion other than to insult women. And by the way, it’s often used to describe a situation that, for many women, is the only sense of financial security they’ll ever be able to obtain, by using the one privilege that society has always encouraged them to use (i.e. their bodies).”
Epley added that the video “showed us exactly what the leadership at the River Cats thinks of women.”
“There is no hiding behind ‘it’s just a joke’ after this.”
Lisa Kaplan, a Sacramento city council member, also criticized the ad campaign.
She wrote on X: “Missed the mark big time on this River Cats. It is a sexist and demeaning video. I expect better from your organization.”
The team apologized for its lack of sensitivity.
“Our recent marketing campaign for an alternative identity clearly missed the mark,” the River Cats said in a statement to SFGate.
“Our intention was to creatively reference the rich history of Sacramento and gold country, but our approach was wrong, and we are sorry for the mistake. We will no longer be using this identity.”
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