Gone are the days when sports-team giveaways were limited to T-shirts, bobbleheads, free-sandwich coupons and the like.
The Ravens on Sunday are adopting a unique approach: The tens of thousands of fans entering M&T Bank Stadium for the NFL team’s home opener against the Cleveland Browns will receive free DNA test kits.
It’s an approach stretching the usual giveaway model, and likely to generate fan buzz. The club calls it “one of the most innovative events a partner has ever spearheaded.”
It also contains an element of public-relations risk: The value of direct-to-consumer genetic testing is the subject of scientific debate.
“It can be very useful but in many other cases we just don’t know enough,” said Alan Shuldiner, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “I think it can be very deceptive. I sometimes call it ‘snake oil genomics.’ ”
Ravens fans will get DNA test kits Sunday in unusual NFL promotion
The Ravens on Sunday are adopting a unique approach: The tens of thousands of fans entering M&T Bank Stadium for the NFL team’s home opener against the Cleveland Browns will receive free DNA test kits.
It’s an approach stretching the usual giveaway model, and likely to generate fan buzz. The club calls it “one of the most innovative events a partner has ever spearheaded.”
It also contains an element of public-relations risk: The value of direct-to-consumer genetic testing is the subject of scientific debate.
“It can be very useful but in many other cases we just don’t know enough,” said Alan Shuldiner, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “I think it can be very deceptive. I sometimes call it ‘snake oil genomics.’ ”
Ravens fans will get DNA test kits Sunday in unusual NFL promotion
