Boston T-Shirt Company Hoards COVID Masks, Holds Them Hostage From Hospitals Until People Buy $25 Boston Strong T-Shirts
This is Mahlon Williams, the owner of I Love Boston Sports, a t-shirt company that has over 267,000 Facebook followers.
If you live in the Boston area, you’ve probably heard of or seen @bostonsportsco apparel. But, did you know the brand is owned by a #WheatonMAalum!?
An economics major, Mahlon Williams ‘95, always had a knack for business. Read more: https://t.co/6g5WSxWBKR pic.twitter.com/MNugcu6l9C
— Wheaton Alumni (@wheatonmaalum) August 17, 2018
He has received no shortage of free advertising and positive coverage from the media.
Today at 7:15–we’ll introduce you to the man who is outfitting Boston with his creative apparel. The story behind @bostonsportsco and it’s driving force Mahlon Williams. pic.twitter.com/wH79adA6pw
— Gene Lavanchy (@boston25gene) September 13, 2018
Mahlon Williams has carved out a niche making tees that mesh sports and pop culture http://t.co/gQsNQhMKsU pic.twitter.com/ERnBXvoaWY
— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) December 18, 2014
Now he is using that relative fame to profit off of the coronavirus crisis by hoarding masks, and only donating them to hospitals if people purchase one of his overpriced shirts.
As you can see, he is masking his opportunistic capitalism as philanthropy. He’s also using a cliche slogan from a tragedy that occurred in Boston seven years ago to sell a shirt that people likely would not purchase if he didn’t offer to donate a mask every time they purchase one.
The shirts cost $25, and likely cost him much less than that to make. The masks, if bought in bulk overseas, likely cost around $1 or so per unit. This is nothing more than a cheap ploy to profit off of a tragedy while presenting himself as a hero.
Dave Portnoy called this years ago called this years ago when Williams ran to the Boston Globe and falsely accused him of stealing Williams’ “Free Brady” shirt idea. The receipts don’t lie.
The only thing more offensive than profiting off a tragedy are prices that he charges for his shirts which come in a variety of colors that are only found in a new born baby’s poopy diaper.
This isn’t the first time he’s capitalized on a tragedy either.
He’s been using the commie cold to sell his generic, poorly done shirts for weeks, while presenting himself as the leader of some sort of fight against the deadly disease.
Imagine seeing a bunch of people die alone and the first thing that comes to your mind is, “how can I make money off of this?”
Mahlon rightfully took a lot of flak from his followers and made it a million times worse by attempting to justify his actions.
He’s been in contact with medical professionals who instructed him to purchase 1,050 masks, and only donate them to hospital if people buy his Boston Strong shirts? I guess the “medical professionals” he consulted with weren’t interested in finding out how they could buy them directly from his dealer because they prefer a middle man hold them hostage.
He also said that he “spoke with the chief of Boston EMS” who happens to be his neighbor.
So you know he’s legit now.
When people rightfully questioned his motives he pulled a “why aren’t you buying masks,” to a first responder nonetheless.
“Signed. Someone who puts his money where his mouth is.”
Mahlon is profiting off of this. He’s not donating anything unless people buy a shirt off of him for $25. He knew that people would be more inclined to buy a shirt if it was attached to a good cause, and he knew that those shirts wouldn’t sell otherwise. He made that clear over and over again.
“Selling a shirt helps finance our ability to get more.”
Perhaps Mahlon isn’t the right person to be donating masks to hospitals since he clearly cannot afford to do so. Maybe he should leave that to billionaires like Bob Kraft, or even the government whose job it is to guide us through this crisis.
Again, he didn’t “donate” anything. He held masks hostage under the condition that people buy t-shirts off of him.
He really loves to let people know about his philanthropy.
Because the best part about raising money for a good cause is when you tell people about all the money you raised for a good cause. If you can’t do that then what’s the point?
The bottom line is that there are shortages of these masks, and if you know a guy who can get you a good deal then you should probably alert the governor’s office because they’re depending on Bob Kraft at the moment. If you use a ploy like this to sell your crappy shirts because no one would buy them otherwise, it doesn’t make you a good person. And all your BS and Facebook PR spin isn’t going to change that.
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