A full-page newspaper ad that congratulates the Charlotte Hornets for drafting Alonzo Mourning has offended some of the city`s unemployed.
Nike, the company handling the former Georgetown star`s marketing and business interests, bought the ad in The Charlotte Observer. It ran the day after Mourning was picked second in the NBA draft. The ad read:
”A 3-trillion-dollar deficit.
”New holes in the ozone layer.
”Unemployment at an all-time high.
”The Hornets draft Alonzo Mourning.
”On balance, it`s been a pretty good year.”
Smaller print at the bottom said, ”Congratulations to the Charlotte Hornets on drafting Alonzo Mourning.”
”The word I`d use is appallingly poor taste,” said Bill Miller, 52, who lost his job last week. ”To place drafting him in the same category as serious issues like the national debt, the ozone layer and unemployment is in poor taste.”
Yvonne Brown, 29, of Charlotte said the ad ”bothers me a lot. It`s hard to find a job. I`ve been looking over a year here.”
The ad was done by the advertising firm Wieden and Kennedy of Portland, Ore.
The Hornets got irate calls about the ad but didn`t seem upset. Said owner George Shinn: ”I guess you can take anything out of context. They were referring to the team as a whole. It has been a good year for the team.”
