Adidas. Just WOW!

Meh.

Not the best choice of words, but it was the Boston Marathon yesterday. It's not like they're referencing last year's event.

How often do people die in the Boston marathon? The advert refers to surviving, i.e. not dying. So it's a reference to dying in the Boston marathon.

I agree with "meh", though, because I think it was meant as hyperbole.
 
One doesn't need to be offended to know something is offensive.

Offense (in the context of words, gestures, etc, i.e. not an assault or act of war or an attempt to score against an opponent in a sport) is purely subjective. As a result, everything is offensive. With billions of people in the world, there's bound to be at least one who is offended by something, whatever that something is.

So I think there are four possible meanings for "something is offensive":

1) The person using the phrase is saying that everything is offensive to someone.
2) The person using the phrase is saying that they are offended by something.
3) The person using the phrase is abusing the word "offensive" in order to gain power.
4) The person using the phrase is saying that they have the right and power to decree what other people must be offended by.

I considered someone speaking on behalf of an organisation as a 5th possibility, but I think it falls under (3). The organisation is expressing disapproval of something and is using the word "offensive" in order to gain power.
 
Three have in it's history (excluding the bombing deaths) and dozens have had life threatening medical issues because of it, for example in 2012.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...7/gIQA6HnAOT_blog.html?utm_term=.f486c40140df

That's more deaths than I was expecting, but it's also bigger than I was expecting. It's been going for 121 years and ~30,000 people did it this year alone. Surviving something with such an extremely low death rate isn't really major advert material.
 
Just noticed the heading of the email, I just read "you're boston strong" hence not really understanding.

The heading made me chuckle. Must be my dark sense of humour. :p
 
That's more deaths than I was expecting, but it's also bigger than I was expecting. It's been going for 121 years and ~30,000 people did it this year alone. Surviving something with such an extremely low death rate isn't really major advert material.

Perhaps, but as I said to Dis, survived is a standard phrase used in marathons. For example:

https://marathon.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/30/marathon-survival-strategies/?_r=0

https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/13-tips-to-survive-a-marathon

etc.

Over the top, but a standard phrase in many longer running races as well as activity races (like tough mudder etc).

That said, they may well have used the term on purpose, but equally they may well have just used a term widely used to refer to finishing a marathon, not realising people would try and link the two events.
 
wow, people are fragile these days. plus people being offended in this thread (@Dis86) on behalf of people who are probably not even offended.

what a weak society we all live in.
 
wow, people are fragile these days. plus people being offended in this thread (@Dis86) on behalf of people who are probably not even offended.

what a weak society we all live in.
Clearly didn't read the Twitter feed where survivors and runners found it offensive...
 
What is the matter with it? Easily offended much?
Not really offensive just stupidity in your case. We are not little tots anymore.
I agree with you on this one.
Clearly didn't read the Twitter feed where survivors and runners found it offensive...
Then they are soft skinned and need to grow up, I'm autistic and when someone makes a joke about it I'm fine with it, if it's just a joke and no seriousness in it, I actually feel better taking the pee out of tbh. At least people actually remember the bombings and haven't forgotten about them like most in other parts of the world.
 
There's no evidence it was a genuine mistake, I'm pretty sure as an American when you think of the Boston marathon, that attack comes straight to the front of your mind, the wording seems pretty evident they knew what they were doing.

I mean people sometimes die of heart attacks during marathons, it just seems a weird way to congratulate runners when so many other phrases could have been used instead.


The concept of saying well done, you survived, for a marathon is not new or strange. The majority of people using some kind of training/tracking program for running (which is I presume who was e-mailed this) are mostly building up to a marathon. Most people can't run 26 miles, people actually do die running marathons though this isn't a literal "you survived" but a well used saying.

In reality this is probably an automatic e-mail sent out to anyone signed up to some tracking program and has gone out for dozens of other marathons. It's probably a template e-mail which either is automatically or manually has the name and date of the marathon changed but basically nothing else then gets sent out. You survived the London marathon, you survived the Sydney marathon, etc, etc. If it's automatic it's even easier to see how it got missed, but really isn't anything to get offended about anyway.
 
Clearly didn't read the Twitter feed where survivors and runners found it offensive...

Did they though? or did someone on twitter say they ran it and were offended? A lot of people on twitter claim to be offended and claim to be part of such events when in reality they weren't there, hell people will post that when they aren't offended, or even attempting to be offended for people they think really are offended. A lot of people go on twitter and just try to get involved in whatever is 'going on' at the current time.

Put it this way, could you go on twitter right now and say "I ran the marathon today and four years ago, this is very offensive".... if so, stop believing everything you read on twitter.
 
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