A groundbreaking Super Bowl ad that you shouldn't miss
The first-ever domestic violence ad on the Super Bowl. How effective will it be?
The first-ever domestic violence ad on the Super Bowl. How effective will it be?
There's a haunting simplicity and spareness about this Super Bowl ad that makes it powerful.
It will be only 30 seconds long, so you might even miss it as you lunge for the buffalo wings or race for a refill.
But it's worth seeing 鈥� if only to say that you saw it.聽
For the first time ever, an advertisement condemning domestic violence will air during the Super Bowl, the premiere TV viewing event of the year.聽
As the ad opens, a woman's voice is heard calling 911 and ordering a pizza. The camera pans a dark, empty house. The 911 dispatcher, at first, responds with some frustration over the misdialed number. But then, the dispatcher catches on. The woman can't talk openly. She's only pretending to order a pizza.
Leslie Morgan Steiner, the author of "Crazy Love," a memoir about surviving violence in her first marriage, describes the public service ad this way:
As this year's cases of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice (beating his then fianc茅e) and Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (beating his son) highlighted this past year, the NFL has domestic abuse problem. "Domestic violence accounts for 48 percent of arrests for violent crimes among NFL players, compared to our estimated 21 percent nationally," reported Fivethirtyeight.com, a聽respected analytical site.
The NFL has partnered with NOMORE.org to produce a series of public service announcements that have aired during NFL games over the past several months. The NFL has also taken steps to improve its response to perpetrators of domestic violence, including a new聽Personal Conduct Policy.聽In the wake of the two-game suspension for Ray Rice, the NFL has instituted stronger聽stronger penalties, and mandatory education programs for all NFL personnel, and expanded those programs for college, high school and youth athletes.聽
And the NFL has hired Cynthia Hogan as its top Washington lobbyist. Ms. Hogan played a key role in passing the Violence Against Women Act聽in 1994.聽
Of course, one ad won't bring an end to this problem. But as a financially strong enterprise, whose primary audience is men, a continuing NFL focus on this problem could make a dent in it. As Hogan wrote in Politico:
It will be seen on Super Bowl Sunday, by upwards of 100 million people.