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San Joaquin County officers are flagging what one supervisor is asking a savvy advertising and marketing marketing campaign cloaked as patriotism by recreational-vehicle big Camping World.
The nation’s largest retailer of RVs and RV-related equipment and providers is flying an enormous American flag once more exterior its retailer within the Northern California city of French Camp.
This time, nonetheless, the flag’s look is authorized.
The county and the RV enterprise have been wrangling for greater than a 12 months over the large flag and the extraordinarily tall flagpole from which it flies; the county mentioned the peak of the pole required correct permits, which Camping World didn’t have. There was additionally preliminary concern about how shut the pole was to Interstate 5.
In between, Old Glory was quickly eliminated after which hoisted once more towards protocols.
The company’s CEO instructed a neighborhood outlet it was his patriotic responsibility to fly the flag. The county, nonetheless, maintained that the right course of was not adopted however that the retailer finally acquired what it craved: publicity.
“This is a marketing opportunity for Camping World,” San Joaquin County Supervisor Tom Patti mentioned in an electronic mail to The Times. “Camping World has a habit of installing flagpoles that are quite large in size, but they do it without pulling permits on numerous occasions.”
Camping World didn’t reply to emailed questions.
The retailer is simply south of Stockton off the 5 Freeway.
The county grew to become conscious of a possible code violation in June of 2023, in line with Patti. County officers responded by asking for the shop’s web site plans.
Camping World submitted “incomplete site plans” in December, Patti mentioned.
The San Joaquin County Community Development Department had beforehand consulted with Caltrans concerning issues concerning the pole’s proximity to the freeway. Complete plans had been submitted in June and accredited Thursday, in line with county spokesperson Hilary Crowley.
The Camping World flagpole is 130 ft tall. That peak required approval by the county zoning administrator and a constructing allow, in line with Crowley.
Although the dimensions of the flag was not disclosed, different Camping World retailer flags nationwide have routinely measured 40 ft by 80 ft. Meaning if that flag had been laid down, it will cowl about 70% of a regulation-size NBA court docket.
Camping World in French Camp lowered its flag for an undisclosed time through the allow course of. Company Chief Executive Marcus Lemonis then ordered the shop to fly the flag once more Monday, in line with experiences from the native Fox News affiliate.
The flag’s elimination was a tricky tablet to swallow for Lemonis. The Lebanese immigrant and star of CNBC’s “The Profit” mentioned he was grateful to “enter this country and become a citizen.”
He instructed Fox the flag should fly as a result of it symbolizes “how we feel about this country.” Also, he mentioned, “we have a lot of veterans who work for us, and a lot of veterans who shop with us.”
The county disputes media experiences that it ordered the shop to decrease the flag till correct permits had been accredited.
“The County never told them to take a flag down,” Patti wrote. “We do not have any record nor a citation to remove the flag, and we’ve always had an open line of communication asking for site plans which were delayed in coming from Camping World.”
County spokesperson Crowley mentioned the difficulty “has been solely with the height of the flagpole.”
Camping World has run into flag troubles earlier than.
In 2019, the town of Statesville, N.C., sued the Illinois-based company over the dimensions of the flag at an affiliate retailer.
The lawsuit generated loads of buzz, and Camping World created a web based petition signed by greater than 450,000 folks calling on the town to reverse its coverage.
“Many cities like Statesville have requested that Camping World and Gander Outdoors take down their American Flags,” the petition learn. “WE WON’T DO IT! Stand with us.”
Camping World paid $11,000 in fines to settle the difficulty.
Patti thanked Camping World for its patriotism and added that the county “supports our flag 100%.”
“This is a self-inflicted issue, but as a business owner and someone that understands marketing, it’s brilliant,” he added.
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