Do you remember the time a PR agency insulted bronies to such an extent that the TV network
needed to issue a follow up statement?
No? Well, you’re in for a story then.
Welcome to another tale from brony history.
Let’s go back to the year 2012.
Besides the end of the world, another disaster struck humanity at that time.
Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot.
During the usual PR media frenzy to promote the new show, this article popped up on Cartoon Brew.
It’s pretty normal for public relations people to send press releases to blogs and
other media outlets.
However a couple things cause this one to stand out.
First of all, they make a comparison between the art styles of Care Bears and My Little Pony.
You don’t have to be an animation expert to understand these two shows do not look alike.
My Little Pony is 2D animation done in Flash, meanwhile this Care Bears reboot is clearly
everyone’s favorite: 3D GCI.
Yet this PR person makes the claim that Care Bears “features the same re-imagined GC
animation and spirit of friendship and caring that made shows
like My Little Pony Friendship is Magic a cult hit.”
But that isn’t why people were upset.
“What’s the Care Bears equivalent of a Brony?
Belly-Bros?
Care-Dudes?”
That’s right, because this show-
Is almost exactly the same as this show-
And surely all of the teen and adult fans watching ponies would love to
watch the Care Bears reboot as well.
Needless to say, this sparked a lot of discussion in the comments about the ignorance of companies
representing both shows.
Not that any of this is the fault of the people who worked on the Care Bears show of course.
No, all of the frustration was directed squarely in the direction of the television network
and whatever public relations person issued this particular press release.
In addition to some rather serious discussion, Belly Bros quickly became a joke within the
Brony fandom, especially on 4Chan.
But the story doesn’t end there.
Apparently there was enough outrage and attention surrounding this mishap that The Hub network
felt compelled to respond.
First of all, props to them for responding at all.
Rest in peace The Hub Network.
Anyway, here’s their response which you can also find on Cartoon Brew.
“...I wanted to let you know that this was an unapproved and unsanctioned pitch by our
PR agency that we are completely taken aback by.
Both The Hub TV Network nor American Greeting Properties had any knowledge of the pitch angle.
It is not our intention to compare Care Bears to My Little Pony and/or the Brony community.”
So there you have it.
Some random outsourced PR firm got a little too ambitious with their marketing.
A complete sense of ignorance toward an established and growing fan community required a formal
pseudo-apology from the publicity manager herself.
Again, props to The Hub here.
Bronies have always loved The Hub and The Hub always seemed to love bronies as well.
This may have been brief incident, but it led to a fandom meme which still occasionally
surfaces to this day, many years later.
Just whatever you do, don’t go searching for the Belly Bro fandom.
The weird side of YouTube has a monopoly on that term apparently.
Thanks for watching!
I hope you enjoyed this quick look at a moment from Brony history.
See you next time!