NEW ORLEANS — According to a Reddit post, Falcons fans started a GoFundMe and raised $2,000 to put a billboard in New Orleans with the message:
"Atlanta Weather Report: Sunday Feb. 3rd, 42 degrees, NO BREES"
All New Orleans billboard companies reportedly turned them down and they have issued a refund on GoFundMe, according to the post.
“I honestly didn't expect private companies to turn down thousands of dollars but it is their right. There was one option in NOLA , a LED digital truck for $750 for 5 days, but that's not a billboard,” the organizer said.
Eyewitness News reached out to one advertising company in the metro New Orleans area who confirm they were approached about posting a billboard like this but declined.
A spokesperson with the company said they felt it would be inflammatory and they did not want to be used for that content.
You can read the entire post from Reddit here. An abridged version is also copied below.
Post:
"The previous user has been doxxed by Saints fans so asked me to step in to give an update.
As of 10:35am on 1/23 we have $1955 in the gofundme account I setup for the previous user.
After transaction fees from gofundme, that would be $1894.
We have a standing quote from a reputable billboard company that has several digital billboards within a 1/2 mile radius of the superdome that (pending artwork review) they will take our concept/campaign for $1000 per panel per week. This is a high rate for the area but they said $500 isn't worth the controversy this board may generate.
I talked to several billboard companies this morning and went through our top 5 concepts from the online poll before it was brigaded by saints fans
Top 5 were
1. "Atlanta Weather Report: Sunday Feb. 3rd, 42 degrees, NO BREES"- 19%
2. Last 2 Saint playoff scores "It's a NOLA thing" - 17%
3. "Weather Report " - 17% (it was accidentally posted twice so combining scores was the clear winner)
4. Score of Game and BLEWDAT - 10%
5. Score of Game and BLEAUXDAT - 8%
We had nearly 300 legit responses and some nice death threats.
The companies outright refused the BLEWDAT/BLEAUXDAT concept stating it would be too controversial that they allowed it. Remember they have to live in the City so they are basically pulling a "Park Tavern" taking our business.
We have some awesome users designing some spec art for the top 2 concepts (Weather Report/It's a NOLA thing) and will update this thread when we receive them.
Update 1
All New Orleans billboard companies have turned down our concept copy,...some in hilarious fashion that I may post tomorrow.
credit u/professor_d00m
I honestly didn't expect private companies to turn down thousands of dollars but it is their right. There was one option in NOLA , a LED digital truck for $750 for 5 days, but that's not a billboard.
The only option we had left was to post the billboard in Atlanta. I talked to a major billboard company here and sent them the copy and they were happy to run it in 2 high impact locations for $2k.
However, that's not the GoFundMe I set up and while I've sent a note to every donor asking if they were ok with it , I don't see any option other than a full refund to all donors.
So, we tried but came up short. So is life as a Falcons fan.
Update 3
Just to clarify, these companies will take the most raunchy adult entertainment clubs, one of them took an ad saying "THE NRA IS A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION", but our billboard, which is basically a dad joke, is a bridge too far.
RELATED: Is an apology too much to ask?
I know some Saints fans will be proud of this, that all their billboard companies turned us down, but this ad would have attracted a ton of media (I already had inquiries from Barstool, SB Nation, and Deadspin before pulling the campaign) would have been a fun addition to our longstanding rivalry, but you bunch of crybabies can't handle it. Private companies so afraid of a backlash of whiny swamp people that can't handle some light fun.
Saints fans are the biggest crybabies in sports, full stop.
RISEUP"