Boston Strong

"Boston Strong" is a slogan that was created as part of the reaction to the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013. It is a variation on the term Livestrong, which was created in 2004. It has been placed on various kinds of merchandise after the phrase became popular, as well as gained criticism from various entities. The use of the term in Boston has led to similar phrases entering public discourse, such as America Strong.The slogan was used nearly a decade previous to the Boston Marathon bombings by Bobby Alford, a member of a club that caused him the need to travel the country often. Bobby printed BOSTON STRONG t-shirts in 2004 after a funeral in Ventura. The person being buried was said to use terms such as "that's not just tough, that's Chevy tough. That's not just strong, that's Chevy strong". Alford owned a company called STREET TUFF and printed t-shirts declaring that things were as tuff as the streets of Boston. Street Tuff Football and Street Tuff Poker. He then started making shirts that stated STRONG, the first of which was Boston Strong. Alford never attempted to gain any fame or financial gain when Boston Strong became famous after the bombings. In an ironic twist, Alford was recovering from surgery at the time of the bombings and just hours before the bombings was let go from the ambulance company where he worked as an Advanced EMT. that same ambulance company had several units dispatched to the scene.

In the hours after the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15, 2013, the slogan "Boston Strong" appeared as a highly popular hashtag on Twitter and rapidly spread around the world. It was a T-shirt campaign created by Christopher Dobens and Nicholas Reynolds, students at Emerson College. Although Reynolds and Dobens are given credit, the slogan was actually created by Bobby Alford nearly a decade earlier and printed on his STREET TUFF shirts. "Not just TUFF...STREET TUFF" was turned into "Not just STRONG...BOSTON STRONG ". An expression of Boston's unity after the bombings, the slogan showed up on T-shirts and other products, and was emblazoned on the "Green Monster" wall at Boston's Fenway Park. The Boston Bruins displayed the slogan on their helmets at their game two days after the bombings, and at the first baseball game in Fenway Park after the bombings, the stadium announcer told the crowd: "We are one. We are strong. We are Boston. We are Boston strong."

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