Right message, but maybe wrong time

Because of the vehicular murders committed in New Orleans on New Year's Eve, the Sugar Bowl College Football Playoff game was postponed 24 hours. Just prior to the game, Allstate, the corporate sponsor of the game, aired a message from Tom Wilson, its CEO. Wilson stated, "Welcome to the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Wednesday, tragedy struck the New Orleans community. Our prayers went to victims and their families. We also need to be stronger together by overcoming an addiction to divisiveness and negativity. Join Allstate working in local communities all across America to amplify the positive, increase trust and accept people's imperfections and differences. Together we win."

Unifying message, right? Well, not if you judge by social media, especially on X. One user posted "Allstate using the terrorist attack for advertisement so gross." Another stated, "Allstate CEO Tom Wilson must have forgotten that Trump won the election by a lot." (Note: Trump won by 1.67% of the popular vote -- not exactly a lot). Perhaps the most common responses were to suggest that Wilson be cancelled or to do something anatomically impossible.

There was nothing wrong with what Wilson said. If people in the country followed his advice, we would all be better off. But Wilson didn't read the room. Many of the people tuning into the game wanted the actions of the murderer condemned, not an analysis of the possible causes of his heinous acts. Maybe in a week, the audience would be open to Wilson's much-needed sentiments. Today feelings are just a little too raw. Wilson would have been better off saying, "Welcome to the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Wednesday, tragedy struck the New Orleans community. Our prayers went to victims and their families, and we condemn the evil committed by the terrorist. Allstate stands ready to help New Orleans where we can."