If you ask anyone older than 35, millennials are entitled, selfie-taking, lazy leeches whose fragile egos and penchant for avocado toast prevents them from purchasing houses and contributing to the world.
If you ask any millennial, they will tell you that standpoint is hyperbolic, to say the least.
Millennials are the Yankees. Everyone who isn’t one seems to hate them, but most of them couldn’t really tell you why they dislike them. It’s a meme to dislike them. It’s trendy. It’s easy.
To further this baseball-millennials connection even more, and to continue to back our assertion that Minor League Baseball is the pinnacle of marketing and creativity, the Montgomery Biscuits are planning “Millennial Night” on July 21.
Millennial night includes a participation ribbon giveaway, selfie and napping stations, and “lots of avocados.”
Want free things without doing much work? Well you're in luck!
Riverwalk Stadium will be Millennial friendly on Saturday, July 21st with a participation ribbon giveaway just for showing up, napping and selfie stations, along with lots of avocados 🥑
🎫: https://t.co/mEfHPEQ6fF pic.twitter.com/jvGKCCenpn
— Montgomery Biscuits (@BiscuitBaseball) July 11, 2018
That sounds fun! But people on the internet, as they tend to do, took the joke way too seriously and got upset about it.
Maybe have a boomer night where there's a designated "i want to speak to the manager" line, and a line where you can get beer at 1 dollar, and complain its too warm, still too expensive, and how a baseball ticket should come with 3 free beers.
— Dustin (@vensked) July 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/texaninnyc/status/1017257453619220480
Look, I’m going to break the rules of journalism and write in the first person here for the sake of analysis. I am a millennial. I think this is good. I think the meme of millennials being lazy and self-absorbed is played out and trite, and I also think avocados are one of the top 3 tastiest things on the planet. (I also understand the irony of writing in the first person about how we’re not all self-absorbed. Don’t @ me.)
I also think that this is a smart idea for a minor league baseball team to attract not only fans, but attention. Is it the most clever, hilarious idea in the world? Probably not. But, The Montgomery Biscuits fanbase hardly extends beyond metro Montgomery, Ala., or especially devoted Rays fans. And yet, here we are discussing it on the global expanse of the internet. Even the likes of USA Today is commenting on it.
That’s just good marketing. And you know what? Chances are those participation ribbons end up in someone’s house or on their desk at work as a funny souvenir from a silly night of Double-A baseball. Those selfie stations will be used, and the pictures will be shared on social media, likely with the Biscuits tagged in them. The nap pods might be used by some people who don’t really like baseball or, more realistically, used for more photo opportunities.
And the avocados? They will be eaten.
To break another journalism rule and use a horrible pun, the Montgomery Biscuits hit a home run with this promotion. People are paying attention to a regional brand all across the country and engaging with it. People will go to the game and spend money on avocados (thereby sabotaging their chances at home-ownership), and they will keep those participation ribbons and advertise them online. One thing millennials truly can’t resist is the desire to see something even if they think they’ll hate it. It’s the “it’s so bad it’s good” appeal or the “dude, this tastes terrible, try it” appeal.
Check back in with us on July 22. It’s a safe bet to say that hashtags related to the team and location tags on Instagram and Twitter will be full of millennials, perhaps ironically, promoting the brand.
It certainly beats another fedora giveaway for Father’s Day.
