Red Sox Finally Give Fans Something to Cheer For With Genius Promotion

Fenway Park is known for the color green. The grass is green, of course, but so are the walls, including the towering fence in left field known as the Green Monster (which also shares a name with the team mascot).

For one night, at least, America’s oldest ballpark will change colors. The shades of green, red and white will be replaced by a new color: pink.

Red Sox Barbie Night Promotion

That’s right. In an effort to boost sagging attendance and get fans to come to the ballpark for a meaningless September series between the Red Sox and White Sox, Boston is holding a special Barbie Night promotion this upcoming Friday, Sept. 22. Fans who come to “Kenway” Park will be rewarded with a special pink Red Sox Barbie shirt.

On the one hand, this is pretty genius from a marketing perspective. Barbie was the biggest movie of the summer, grossing over $600 million in ticket sales domestically and over $1.4 billion worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. Beloved by kids and adults alike, anything Barbie-related is a can’t-miss.

On the other hand, this feels like a pure desperation move by Red Sox marketing. They’ve been absolutely terrible lately, plummeting out of playoff contention with their latest swoon. They’ve lost 10 of their last 12 games to sink to last place in the AL East and recently fired Chaim Bloom, creating an air of uncertainty and failure around the franchise.

With football season in full swing, Boston sports fans have already moved on from the Red Sox, if they even bothered to care in the first place. Attendance was dismal during last week’s four-game series against the Yankees at Fenway, with tickets going for $1 on the resale market for games that are typically sold out months in advance.

So with the dreadful White Sox coming to town this weekend, Boston’s PR team is clearly scrambling for ideas to give fans literally any reason to come to the park. Sadly, it says a lot about the state of the franchise and its lack of star power that their best idea wasn’t even baseball-related.

The true, die-hard Red Sox fans have long despised the so-called “pink hat” crowd, which is viewed as the casual fans and tourists who gobble up tickets to visit Fenway but care little about the team that plays there. They may want to away on Friday night, then, because they’re not going to like what they see.