SF Boat Rental Firm's Publicity Stunt Hoax On Renaming McCovey Cove Is Dead In The Water

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- A San Francisco boat-sharing rental firm is dealing with waves of negative reaction following a phony announcement that it had secured naming rights to McCovey Cove just in time for the World Series Game 3.

Boatbound, which can be described as the Airbnb of boat rentals, issued what appeared to be an actual press release indicating it had bought rights to rename the popular waterway outside of AT&T Park as "Boatbound Bay."

The reaction from Giants fans was of stunned disbelief and anger.

Soon after the Boatbound announcement the Giants tweeted the real story.

Boatbound eventually came clean and issued an explanation on its Facebook page and acknowledged its planned publicity stunt. The phony announcement was part of the marketing for an actual promotion for boating rental credits for every home run the Giants hit during World Series Games 3, 4 and 5.

What started out as an idea for a local promo/fun, quickly grew into something we never intended or imagined. We'd never dream of stealing Willie's thunder or disrespecting him by renaming his cove.
McCovey Cove is still McCovey Cove and as far as we know, always will be.
As further support of our hometown SF bay, McCovey Cove, and the Giants, Boatbound will be making a donation to the Port of San Francisco to help with the upkeep of McCovey Cove so it can be enjoyed safely for years to come.

Still, even the company's mea culpa and pledge to try and make up for the publicity stunt did not seem to placate many Twitter users.

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