ROCHESTER, NY – A supermarket chain in New York has changed its mind about creating Alec Baldwin as a spokesperson because he had mischief on an American Airlines flight.
Wegman’s grocery stores said Wednesday the Baldwin television commercial would continue after being inundated with “hundreds and hundreds of tweets, emails and phone calls” to support the actor.
We regret that we prohibited Alec Baldwin’s Christmas advertising a week before than planned in response to a few dozen complaints, Wegmans said in a statement. We decided to restart the announcements with immediate effect. It is clear that many more people support Alec.
MyWegmansConnect announced Tuesday that the ads were removed after customers criticized Baldwin’s behavior. He was picked up from a flight to New York at Los Angeles International Airport on December 6 because he refused to turn off his phone.
The commercials filmed for Christmas 2010 were slated to last three weeks last month but were drawn by Baldwin a week before the dust.
Baldwin was hired for advertising after mentioning that his mother, who lives in the Syracuse area, is a loyal customer of Wegman’s.
“We appreciate MyWegmansConnect’s decision and the sentiment expressed in his statement,” said Baldwin journalist Matthew Hiltzik.
Wegmans, a family business founded in Rochester in 1916, is said to have helped pioneers from a single source.