Quarterback Colin Kaepernick (pictured above) was black balled from playing NFL games after he started a peaceful protest against police brutality in 2016. Despite the network’s claims of remaining unpolitical, FOX aired multiple political campaign advertisements during the Super Bowl LIV (Mike Morbeck/wikimedia).
Millions of people, myself included, watch the Super Bowl every year. In 2015, more than 110 million Americans—a Super Bowl record—tuned in to watch the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks square off, according to Forbes. Such high numbers, especially when it concerns television viewership, results in a huge American classic: consumerism. In the case of the modern-day Super Bowl, when consumerism meets the NFL, only hypocrisy can follow.
The National Football League has existed in some form since 1920, making this year the 100-year anniversary of its inception. There have been highs and lows throughout the decades since the Super Bowl’s inception and the growth of consumer culture is an obvious result. As people began to listen to games on the radio, and eventually watching them on television, commercials and propaganda were sold to the airing corporations.
A commercial slot for 30 seconds can cost as much as 5.25 million dollars, according to CNBC. The Super Bowl is insanely profitable and generates billions of dollars each year. While this might not seem materialistic since the NFL’s goal as a company is to make money, it’s when I look at the advertisements they choose to collaborate on and its choices on censorship that issues present themselves.
Take Colin Kaepernick for example. Back in 2016, police brutality aimed toward black men and women—such as Mario Woods—convinced him to begin non-violently protesting by kneeling during the national anthem, as reported by CNN. After his protest, the NFL unofficially but effectively blocked and barred him from playing, with team owners and shareholders conspiring against him.
Kaepernick’s manager said that the athlete is “actively interested” in playing for the NFL, but the NFL is uninterested in Kaepernick and the baggage he carries, according to USA Today. Here’s where the hypocrisy of the NFL continues to perpetuate itself.
Despite the political apathy the NFL traditionally tries to express, it has allowed extremely political advertisements—such as campaign ads from both Donald Trump (a Republican) and Mike Bloomberg (a Democrat) who are running for United States President this year. Players such as Antonio Brown, who has called his ex-managers slurs and is facing a civil lawsuit for assault and rape, have been picked up almost immediately after they were dropped by teams, yet Kaepernick’s peaceful protest remains unforgivable.
The NFL’s poor track record with politics and censorship speaks negatively to its claim that it’s not about politics, but rather football. If that were true, it wouldn’t have put such plainly political advertisements on the most-watched game of the season.
Of course, I’m not saying that everyone should immediately cancel subscriptions to their local sports station and boycott the Super Bowl for years to come. I am, however, suggesting that the hypocrisy of the NFL should be considered the next time it pretends to be a bastion of American values. Football and the Super Bowl are great American traditions, but if the organization has no respect for peaceful protests and picks and chooses when to censor its players, it has no right to act like a stronghold of American values.
Maria Pawlak is an English education major freshman who both enjoys the warm weather and is terrified of global warming.