Sluggerrr, the mascot of Kansas City Royals, is attempting to fire a hot dog cannon during a game.
Kansas City Royals have not had a winning season since 1994. Everything just never went right for this team, which once had glorious history. What’s worse, the team’s mascot was sued for hurting a fan’s retina when throwing hot dogs improperly. The man, still suffers from bad vision, filed the lawsuit and criticized the team’s carelessness to the safety of their fans. Mascots are responsible for bringing marry to fans and creating good publicity in teams’ community service. However, the bad publicity induced by the lawsuit infringed the team’s public image if not dealt wisely.
Last September, John Coomer attended a Royal’s home game. During the intermission between innings, Sluggerrr threw hot dogs into stands routinely as a part of the in-game tradition. The hot dogs were supposed to be thrown to the higher stands. However, Sluggerrr lost target and the hot dog hit John, who was just a few seats away from Sluggerrr in his eyes. John was reported under medication for his retina. He decided to file the lawsuit for the medication expense he has made. He asked for compensation worth $25000 from the Royals. So far, the Royals have not commented on this issue.
From the perspective of PR, the Royals should be more active in dealing with this incident. Since the mascot is a part of the organization and iconic for family fan base, the Royals should be responsible. The in-game tradition is part of assets that the Royals should be taking more care of. Apparently, the publicity has spread out. Fans may lose their confidence if the Royals does not take immediate action. Mascot, a symbol of good luck, can been seen in every level of games. With the development of professional sport, mascots are portrayed to be cartoon-style. Trained with acrobatics and exaggerated actions, mascots have become eye-catchers for children in events like baseball games, which children oftentimes find to be rather boring. Parents can be more relieved as children have something to do during the game and enjoy the game more. The presence of mascot in community service always produces positive publicity and helps team reach different segments. Some mascots enjoy reputation equal to star players.
In my opinion, John Coomer does not ask for astronomical amount of money. Once the mascot is tagged as a dangerous figure that hurt people, the contradict image will sharply reduce the positive reaction the Royals expect from fan-mascot interaction. Fans may not be fully engaged in the in-game activities if they do not trust the mascot and the team. The emotional engagement has long been the motivation for fans to repeatedly attend games. Once the negative publicity keeps reminding them of the fact that the games are not safe, they loyalty for the game will falter.
