This PSA is one Super Bowl ad that’s sure to grab attention
Mixed in with all the wacky, goofy and mawkishly sentimental ads set to air during this year’s Super Bowl is one spot that’s already generating a lot of discussion. It’s an anti-domestic violence PSA from the NFL and the No More campaign and it’s an attempt by the league to help fix one of the many problems it has dealt with this year.
During a press conference to discuss the pre-Super Bowl so-called Deflategate controversy with the media, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said, “It has been a tough year.â€
He was referring to the ongoing controversies over player concussions and outrage over how the league handled the domestic violence charges against former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice. Rice was initially suspended from two games after knocking out his then-fiancee in an Atlantic City elevator, as seen in a video. Rice was later suspended from the league indefinitely, but was then reinstated after winning an appeal in court.
Hoping to counterbalance widespread criticism over the NFL’s handling of Rice’s case, the 60-second spot plays a 911 call in which the female caller pretends to order a pizza in order to get the police to come to her house without letting her abuser know what’s going on.
The PSA ends with the words, “When it’s hard to talk it’s up to us to listen.â€
The PSA was inspired by a true story shared by a former 911 dispatcher on Reddit last year.
A 30-second version of the spot will air during the game’s first quarter, according to Ad Age, and the production costs and airtime were covered by the league. Thirty-second spots during the Super Bowl this year have been selling for $4.5 million.
No More has been airing anti-domestic violence spots during NFL games this season, but the organization says this is the first-ever such spot to air during the Super Bowl.
While one viewer said she cried watching it, another wrote how the spot didn’t go far enough.
How will the public feel about it? We’ll know Sunday.
Follow me on Twitter: @patrickkevinday
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