This past Friday, I went to The Sports Authority in a local mall by work to look at running shoes, and before I could walk past the checkout aisles, I saw a massive display for Breast Cancer Awareness month, sponsored by the NFL and the American Cancer Society. Initially, I didn’t think much of it, because I’m used to seeing pink-colored NFL apparel. For the last five or so years, the NFL has partnered with ACS in October to raise awareness for Breast Cancer. The players usually have pink accents added onto their uniforms and parts of the field change color to pink as well. Again I didn’t think much of the display intially, but the more I thought about it, I started wondering if the Breast Cancer Awareness month for the NFL is really just “Football for Women Awareness Month.”
Now I know that the NFL doing quite a bit to raise awareness for a cause anyone would agree is completely altruistic is great on paper, but I’ve seen enough movies with huge corporations as villains to know that good things usually exist because profit is involved. For the last few years, the NFL has been trying to market itself to women. They don’t care about men anymore. Why? Because they’ve reached the saturation point. All men like football. Even if they don’t, they’ll like it once their office does a fantasy football pool. That said, there’s no real way to get more men on board. The NFL has set up the reverse-Romney campaign to get women. Because they know they already have 47% of the population (men), they aren’t going to try anything else to keep them. They’ll just start trying to get those other 53%. Some might say, had Romney just tried to get the people not like him and focused less on his base, he would have won, but this is not the time or place for that.
So the NFL has set up a full-fledged marketing assault on women. Have you seen the most recent NFL ad targeted at women?:
That ad is 30 seconds of Jim Harbaugh (49er’s coach) pandering to women. He tells women, they are tough, they are just as good, they have hearts of lions, etc etc. The images in that ad are basically the most beautiful women on tv telling us normies that “women are people too! now go put on this ladies jersey with some man’s name on the back while you take care of your baby.” This ad started airing in September, and has led us to where we are now: PINK MONTH! All those girlfriends and wives who’ve been unwittingly forced to watch a game with their significant other have a whole month where the NFL showers marketing ploys at them, which is, at it’s core what I think Breast Cancer Awareness month is for the NFL.
I think the NFL thinks that the mere attempt to toss some pink stuff onto uniforms, fields and apparel will make women think, “OMG, I like love the NFL now. I want a pink jersey!” They literally think that is it. I can’t say for certain there aren’t some women out there who would be down for the cause for that reason alone, but I like to think that as a society we are smarter than that. The NFL doesn’t do anything unless it adds to their coffers. They have their players union by the balls, and wont even pay for better equipment that is safer because it is more expensive. I find it impossible to think they would shell out millions of dollars in advertising between them and the ACS without making serious profits. The NFL makes billions of dollars in apparel sales and a portion of their proceeds for their pink apparel will go to Breast Cancer Awareness. I highly doubt the NFL cares very much about any of the real world benefits associated with donating money to a great health cause.
Last night I watched Monday Night Football with my girlfriend and I asked her her thoughts on the NFL going pink for October. I told her it was to raise awareness for breast cancer, but little else. She loved it. I am sure that’s what the NFL is going for. They want people with little interest in football to care in someway, as a way to hook them. It’s smart, it’s shrewd, but I don’t think it’s coming from any place that is remotely altruistic. If the NFL wasn’t generating serious profits from the pink apparel, I’m certain it wouldn’t be happening. I don’t know if that should really be the mindset for philanthropy. The NFL has partnered with ACS for Breast Cancer Awareness Month because it is good for their brand. If it was not good for their brand, they would have nothing to do with it, and that percentage of money being raised for awareness, would go elsewhere.
This all brings me back to the thoughts I had last week as I stood staring at the NFL Breast Cancer display. Shouldn’t altruism exist without any intrinsic personal gain? Or should we look to do good in ways that benefit us? Or does it matter at all and I’m just a negative nancy? I don’t really know where I fall completely when it comes to the NFL and Breast Cancer Awareness, but I do know I’m watching closely.
I’ve got my eye on you NFL…
About Russ Stevens
Russ Stevens is an editor and writer at Rookerville and a guidance counselor at Nyack HS. He mostly writes about either loving or hating things. In his spare time, he performs Improv comedy with his troupe Priest and The Beekeeper and is a co-producer of their monthly variety show Pig Pile. He loves all the New York sports teams that are historically bad, and he hates lateness more than anything in the world.