Wakeup call put in to MasterCard, Snapple, Loudonville Police Chief Scott Shoudt: It’s 2007, Chief, and it’s called hazing and assault, not horseplay

“I was the mark I guess,” says fifteen-year-old Jareth Vance who won a starting job at offensive tackle and nose guard.He says there were several severe incidents before a fight in the locker room after practice last week.”It was hazing because was a bunch of them on you,” says Jareth. “Kids make weapons out of broom handles, wrapping tape around the ends of them and hitting people with them.”

“To know that he hid it for so long from me and he endured it until he got injuries that he couldn’t hide from us,” says Laura Vance, his tearful mother.

The locker-room fight resulted in a trip to the hospital for Jareth, along with a call to the police.

“There was some horseplay in the locker room, snapping of towels and spraying water on each other, that lead up to a few punches being thrown,” says Loudonville Police Chief Scott Shoudt.

All four students involved in the fight, three seniors and Jareth, all received discipline from the school.

“The school handed down school discipline and athletic discipline on a consistent basis with all students involved,” says Loudonville-Perrysville superintendent John Miller. “It was consistent discipline that any student would receive for a fight incident.”

Laura Vance says all the students received a three-day in-school suspension and the seniors lost their positions as team captains.

“I want these boys out of school, expelled,” says Laura Vance. “I want them all off the team.”

“It was just wrong so I quit the team because of it, Jareth says. “I don’t know, it it just sort of like crushed my spirit for a little bit because of it.”

The superintendent says Laura Vance had alerted the district to some unspecific incidents involving the boys and Jareth but there was nothing documented before the fight. The police chief does not expect charges to be filed.

Let’s kind of repeat the message to Snapple and MasterCard
MasterCard Commercial: Not Priceless–Tasteless
September 13th, 2007

MasterCard doesn’t seem to know that hazing isn’t all a matter of yuks. Just this week we have a trial involving Michigan youngsters in which the hazing involved sexual assault.  But MasterCard played its master card this week in using Peyton Manning in a debunking commercial in which he makes fun of taping a rookie to a goal post. MasterCard now joins Snapple, Pizza Hut (which pulled its commercial), and ESPN as a corporate sponsor using hazing or hazing-like behaviors to sell a product.

The commercial ends with this Manning line: “No, we don’t do any of that stuff. We’re football players; usually we just tape the smallest guy to the goal posts and call it a day.”

Taking blame for the tasteless commercial, besides Manning, are the following:  McCann Erickson/New York: Joyce King Thomas EVP, Chief Creative Officer, Matt O’Rourke, Group Creative Director, Mat Bisher, Senior Art Director, Jason Schmall, Senior Copywriter, Julie Andariese VP, Executive Producer.
Loudonville travels to Johnstown this Friday, looking for their first win.

Moderator: and less we forget, here is a photo link to Snapple’s reprehensible ad: