The San Francisco Giants and Airbnb are campaigning hard this election season. The Giants need voters to sign off on the massive Mission Rock redevelopment project that would turn the team into big time property developers, while Airbnb hopes voters reject proposed restrictions on "home sharing."
Yet with so much at stake, both companies are keeping their brands out of politics.
The Giants have dumped $2.3 million into the effort to convince voters to approve Prop. D, according to records, and Airbnb has thrown a whopping $8.4 million into the campaign against Prop. F. But neither company's corporate branding appears on political mailers, billboards, or other campaign messaging.
This is puzzling, especially for the Giants, whose World Series-winning ways are so beloved that fans are known to get the team's iconic "SF" logo tattooed. Why not exploit hometown pride by slapping that logo on the effort to build housing, offices, and an Anchor Steam brewery in Mission Bay near the ballpark?
Jack Bair, senior vice president and lead counsel to the team, said the team decided to stay away from baseball and "focus on the aspects of the [Mission Rock] project itself."
As for a campaign absent orange and black, he added, "I think it's no secret that the Giants are the sponsors of the project."
It's also true that Prop. D — which would add 1,000 new housing units to the city's stock, 40 percent of which would be affordable — has no serious opposition. So the Giants' political campaign — "San Franciscans for Affordable Housing, Jobs & Parks" — can freely shape the public narrative (and in an odd year, with the Giants out of the playoffs, maybe the less said about baseball the better).
No such luxury is afforded to Airbnb's campaign, "SF For Everyone," which faces vehement opposition from the city's hotel union, Unite Here Local 2, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and housing activists. Both sides are vying to control public opinion and massage the press.
For the Yes on F set, it means filling voters' minds with Airbnb horror stories of tenants evicted, their flats transformed into hotels, and strangers lurking in apartment hallways.
For Airbnb, it means keeping the brand out of the headlines entirely, and focusing on how Prop. F could lead to an Orwellian dystopia of neighbors spying on and reporting each other to the city.
"This campaign is not about Airbnb," said Patrick Hannan, No on F's campaign manager, who further noted that Prop. F, if passed, would need another public vote to be amended.
So maybe a future political campaign to "Save Airbnb" isn't out of the question — and maybe the Giants could be enlisted to help.
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