Лигийн зүгээс шинэ улирлын нээлттэй холбогдуулан эхлүүлсэн аудио өгүүллэгийн цувралыг ердөө долоо хоногийн дараа албан ёсоор цуцалж, Spotify платформоос бүрмөсөн устгажээ.
NHL-ийн зүгээс хоккейн сэдэвтэй романтик зохиолуудын түгээмэл байдлыг ашиглан, тоглогчдын оролцоотой богино хэмжээний аудио түүхүүдийг олон нийтэд хүргэхээр төлөвлөж байсан юм. Эдгээр 30-аас 90 секундын үргэлжлэх аудио контентууд нь улирлын турш үргэлжлэх байсан ч олон нийтийн сүлжээнд сөрөг хандлага дагуулсны улмаас нэг долоо хоногийн дараа ийнхүү зогссон байна.
Лигийн төлөөлөгчийн мэдээлснээр, уг аян нь зөвхөн улирлын эхний долоо хоногт зориулагдсан, тодорхой тоглолтуудын өмнөх сурталчилгааны шинжтэй байсан аж. Жэк Айкел, Себастьян Ахо нарын оролцсон эдгээр түүхүүд нь бодит романтик агуулгагүй боловч хоккейн сэдэвтэй зохиолын хэв маягийг агуулж байв.
NHL-ийн комиссар Гэри Беттман шинэ үзэгчдийг татах зорилгоор ийм төрлийн соёлын үзэгдлийг ашиглах нь үр дүнтэй гэж үзэж байсан юм. Гэвч өмнө нь 2023 оны наймдугаар сард Алекс Веннберг болон түүний гэргий Фелисия нар фанатуудын зүгээс үзүүлж буй “BookTok” соёлын дарамт, зохисгүй сэтгэгдлүүдийг эрс эсэргүүцэж байсан түүхтэй.
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The NHL is putting its “Hot for Hockey” audiobook campaign on ice.
Less than a week after the NHL started releasing a series of short stories in audiobook form that feature current players in real-life NHL storylines through the lens of a romance novel, the league has discontinued the marketing initiative, Front Office Sports reported.
In fact, the NHL has wiped Spotify completely of the seven 30-to-90-second audio stories that had already been released last Thursday, most of which received negative feedback on social media.
The NHL was trying to capitalize on the popularity of the hockey-themed romance novel trend as well as the new interest from fans of the hit shows “Heated Rivalry” and “Off Campus.”
Initially, Sports Business Journal reported that the NHL planned to release these short stories throughout the season, but the league told Front Office Sports on Monday that the marketing campaign was only meant to be a one-week thing associated with the start of the season.
A league spokesperson did not explain why the stories were removed from Spotify.
“As a start of the season concept, these were matchup specific posts created by authentic authors, illustrators and voice actors designed to run during our opening games in the first week. Our marketing now is focused around many other activations including our Hockey Hits Different celebrity campaign, tune-in messages and other initiatives,” the league spokesperson said.
No actual romance was involved in the audio stories, but they did evoke a similar feel to the style that hockey romance novels are meant to convey.
The SBJ report announcing the campaign indicated that the league had contracted popular hockey romance authors to write and narrate the stories released by the NHL.
Among the first installments released was one featuring Jack Eichel and another that included Sebastian Aho.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters in Pittsburgh that the “data is overwhelming in terms of new fans that we acquired last year who were first introduced to hockey either through Off Campus or Heated Rivalry” before adding that “since it seems to be a cultural phenomenon, we figured why not get on board.”
The NHL’s endeavor into the hockey romance novel or “BookTok” space shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, considering the popularity Bettman noted, but the league’s somewhat checkered history with it does raise some eyebrows.
Three years ago, former Kraken forward Alex Wennberg, who now plays for the Sharks, and his wife, Felicia, had to put out a statement condemning the “BookTok” fan fixation on Wennberg that she described as “sexual harassment, inappropriate comments.”
“What doesn’t sit with me is when your desires come with sexual harassment, inappropriate comments and the fact that, with the Internet, we can normalize behavior that would never be OK if we flipped the genders around to a guy doing this to a female athlete,” she wrote at the time.
