A phrase coined for unity being used to make a buck
With the Boston Red Sox defeating the St. Louis Cardinals on Oct. 30 to take the World Series at home in Fenway Park, the phrase “Boston Strong” has been revived. The major story line attached to this big Boston win is what it means for the people of Boston just six months after the city was hit with a bombing during their marathon in April.
Of course after a tragedy of that magnitude, it’s hard to be a fan of the opposition, recognizing those cheering for the other side might need the win a little bit more than you do. I experience this first hand as a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, a team who had been waiting in a playoff-less desert for nine years up until this year. Myself, an avid sports fan, passionate about despising all things Boston, suddenly experienced an unexpected softening of heart. Who would have thought it possible – but that’s what tragedy does to you. The Boston Bruins weren’t the big bad Bruins anymore, and even after the heartbreaking Game 7 loss, I still had a little voice inside my head whispering thoughts of compassion for the other team (mind you, I was doing my best to silence it).
Today, it’s a bit of a different story. With every ‘Boston Strong’ spoken aloud, hashtagged, or printed on a T-shirt, I find myself cringing, and not for the reason many might think. The phrase that once meant solidarity in the face of struggle is now a commercialized product, and whether that’s a positive or negative thing for the city of Boston is the debate at hand.
On one side, you have the disgusting commercialization that has infected our society like a virus. Just two days after the Boston marathon bombing, two sides ran to gain trademark rights for ‘Boston Strong’ – a T-shirt company called Born Into It out of Woburn, Massachusetts; and an individual named Kerim Senkal. Born Into It claimed they only wanted rights to the phrase to keep anyone who wasn’t from Boston from owning it, while Senkal said he had full intention of giving 100 per cent of the profits to One Fund, a charity in support of the families affected.
Months later, the argument of companies adding ‘Boston Strong’ to clothing, promotions, and just about everything else, is said to be a positive thing. Large corporations use the phrase, committing themselves to donate some of the profits to One Fund. The big guys get exposure, and the charity receives support – everyone wins, right?
Enter the grey area. At what point does ‘Boston Strong’ lose its original meaning? Do big companies practically salivating at the chance to look generous while making money ruin what the phrase was supposed to represent? It’s almost as if those who want to be a part of the civic pride that comes with ‘Boston Strong’ are being roped into spending $19.99 on a T-shirt with the words that were supposed to be unbreakable for a city that refused to stand down. The price tag suddenly taints the expression, and it taints the tragedy. And most importantly, it taints the heroic effort that we all witnessed.
The United States government refused to give trademark rights to “9/11” after the Sept. 11 attacks, and for good reason. That is a date that not one person should be making a dollar off of, whether 50 per cent goes to charity or not. They are numbers that, when put together become almost sacred – haunting – as we all remember what happened that day.
“Boston Strong” used to have a similar effect, sending feel-good goose bumps down the spine of pretty much anyone who encountered it. Seven months and a World Series win later, the phrase has lost some of its power. It’s words on a T-shirt, a billboard on the side of the highway, and a hashtag becoming used completely out of context. It’s slowly becoming more of a marketing tool, and less of a sign of remembrance.
No doubt the city of Boston is standing a little taller after a big World Series win, and “Boston Strong” is at work, doing what it does best: bringing people together. Let’s just remember the hundreds injured, those who lost their lives, and the families affected before throwing a hashtag in front of it.