The Red Sox make themselves look stupid, give Graham Platner a boost

The Boston Red Sox pulled down a Graham Platner ad that, in part, attacked the team for selling out to private equity, tying in with his populist campaign. 

As far as the issues at hand? Seeing this story posted by the British newspaper The Independent at r/mlb, it seems there may be a bit of confusion by one Sox fan, and bigger issues by the team.

Basically, we seem to be getting a bit of intimidation by the ownership mixed with an overly aggressive interpretation of trademark law.

First? Per the Boston Herald, the ad in full is on Platner's Shitter account, with the same font. That there says that Platner campaign isn't worried about the intellectual property claim.

Secod, the NESN statement does NOT say what the intellectual property issue is. That's where I see the bit of intimidation coming in.

Also, technically, ONLY the "B" is trademarked, and otherwise, the team name. The font is reportedly hand-drawn and, the Sox would have to prove that is EXACTLY the same font, not a very similar commercially available font.

Above and beyond all that, you can use a trademarked phrase in a political ad, within certain limitations. Here's some basic law. The key thing is, Platner is not implying the team is endorsing him. Far from it. The Sox would have pretty serious uphill sledding if they really thought about pursuing legal action. 

HEre you go:

Private equity is taking our homes. It's taking our hospitals. It's taking beloved local businesses and stripping them for parts.

And now private equity is running the Red Sox into the ground.

Our new ad ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/w7LapElpdA

— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) May 22, 2026

Let's see what happens next. 

Again, per the one Redditor? The NESN statement didn't say WHAT credible concerns. We can assume the font; we can also assume, given that people let this ad get through in the first place, their credibility level isn't that high. The Sox would have been much better off simply refusing the ad in the first place. Somebody didn't eye it, and now they look like idiots. 

Otherwise, I wrote two weeks ago about Platner's tattoos and other issues.