Poking fun at controversy is often good for business, as a Pennsylvania candy maker has just discovered. Making fun of the Patriots’ “Deflategate” scandal, Sarris Candies of Canonsburg just auctioned off a deflated chocolate football.
As Sarris said on Friday, “What started out as an internal little joke ended up picking up momentum and excitement. It’s going to a good cause, so that’s the best thing.” He originally posted the football on Facebook as a joke and didn’t intend to sell it.
He named the ball the Bradie ball (in reference to Tom Brady but with a different spelling so as not to get into trouble). The Facebook caption read, “Net weight 13 lbs … Oops! We meant 11.2 lbs.”
Richard Bazzy spent $5,000 on the package which included the deflated chocolate, two regular shaped chocolate footballs and two chocolate helmets. In total, $20,000 was given to the Dollar Enery Fund which provides utility help for poor residents. As Bazzy said, “It doesn’t get any better when you can poke fun at an AFC rival while knowing that you are also helping families in need. We expect to display the football in one of our dealerships with pride.”