When the National Football League first created an ad celebrating unity across races, the ad competed for attention amidst a deluge of spots for Super Bowl LI.
When the NFL re-aired the ad on the September 24th, 2017 edition of Sunday Night Football, it commanded the audience's attention.
Before the ad aired, an NFL spokesman told CNN, "We think this is the single best response to demonstrate what we are about. It stands in stark contrast to some who practice the politics of division."
The ad "Inside These Lines," is dramatically narrated by Forest Whitaker in hushed tones, over a montage of slow-motion archival NFL footage intermingled with shots of a groundskeeper painting the football field lines.
"Inside these lines, it's a game of inches, and there's no such thing as an easy yard when you're fighting to move forward," says Whitaker. as a female referee makes a call.
When Whitaker says, "Inside these lines, we're not only defined by our victories, but by the way we handle our defeats" we see what appears to be the end of Super Bowl XLIX, and a Seahawks offers his hand to game MVP New England Patriots Tom Brady (who, incidentally, is a friend of Trump's.)
Whitaker ends with, "Inside these lines, we can bring out the best in each other, And live united-- Inside these lines." The camera pulls back to show a full football field with the outline of the United States painted in the grass.
Will that ad be enough to defuse the tension between protesting players and some of the game's more conservative fans? With Trump adding so much fuel to the fire, unlikely.
But the NFL is being squeezed on the left and the right, and it has little choice but to try to run up the middle.
When the NFL re-aired the ad on the September 24th, 2017 edition of Sunday Night Football, it commanded the audience's attention.
Super Bowl Ad Recast By NFL
That's because the ad was recast as a direct response to President Donald Trump's admonition that NFL owners should fire players who don't stand for the national anthem before games, and came on the heels of hundreds of players locking arms or kneeling in defiance of Trump's comments.Before the ad aired, an NFL spokesman told CNN, "We think this is the single best response to demonstrate what we are about. It stands in stark contrast to some who practice the politics of division."
The ad "Inside These Lines," is dramatically narrated by Forest Whitaker in hushed tones, over a montage of slow-motion archival NFL footage intermingled with shots of a groundskeeper painting the football field lines.
"Inside These Lines" Preaches Unity
"Inside these lines," explains Whitaker, "we don't have to come from the same place to help each other reach the same destination. Inside these lines, we may have our differences, but recognize there's more that unites us." As he speaks, we see a white coach counseling an African-American player, and an African-American player helping up off the ground his white opponent."Inside these lines, it's a game of inches, and there's no such thing as an easy yard when you're fighting to move forward," says Whitaker. as a female referee makes a call.
When Whitaker says, "Inside these lines, we're not only defined by our victories, but by the way we handle our defeats" we see what appears to be the end of Super Bowl XLIX, and a Seahawks offers his hand to game MVP New England Patriots Tom Brady (who, incidentally, is a friend of Trump's.)
Whitaker ends with, "Inside these lines, we can bring out the best in each other, And live united-- Inside these lines." The camera pulls back to show a full football field with the outline of the United States painted in the grass.
Will that ad be enough to defuse the tension between protesting players and some of the game's more conservative fans? With Trump adding so much fuel to the fire, unlikely.
But the NFL is being squeezed on the left and the right, and it has little choice but to try to run up the middle.