Best Buddies raises eyebrows with suggestive e-mail

Published October 16, 2007 4:00am ET



Balls and strikes

The nonprofit organization Best Buddies International recently teamed with Lucky Strike’s bowling lanes for a promotional campaign.

But more than a few eyebrows were raised when Best Buddies announced the partnership via e-mail with this subject line: “How Big Are Your Balls?”

Wha?!?

The e-mail asked recipients to bowl and donate “to Best Buddies when you answer the question ‘How big are your balls?’ ”

It’s anyone’s guess why the e-mail didn’t end up in your spam folder.

After some negative feedback to the slogan, Best Buddies sent another e-mail this week stating, “Best Buddies would like to extend our deepest apologies to everyone who was offended by our most recent marketing campaign.” The new slogan? “Strike for Friendship — have a ball with Best Buddies.”

Anthony Kennedy Shriver, founder and chairman of Best Buddies, told Yeas & Nays, “Some of the parents of the young kids thought the slogan was sort of misplaced.” Still, Shriver added that “we had more people support the idea than not support it.”