via SB Nation
Captain Morgan came up with a brilliant and hilarious viral campaign to benefit charity. However, the NFL, in true league that takes itself too seriously fashion, has crushed it before it even got a chance to take off.
For those who haven’t seen too many Captain Morgan commercials, there is a Captain Morgan pose:
Exhibit A:
Here are the details of the campaign:
In hopes of raising brand awareness, Captain Morgan intended to offer lucrative charity contributions in exchange for each instance a player was caught on camera doing its pose during a game. The contributions were earmarked for the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund – a non-profit which helps retired NFL players with various hardships after leaving the game. […]
The campaign was set to be unveiled next week and was fairly simple: For every time a player was caught on camera striking the “Captain Morgan” during a regular season game, $10,000 would be donated to Gridiron Greats. For each instance in the playoffs, the donation would elevate to $25,000. And for instances in the Super Bowl, the bounty was slated to hit $100,000 per pose.
So, the promotion was a fun way to raise money for a group that is notoriously under-supported by the league: Former NFL players. The League put a stop to the campaign, saying that it was a subliminal way of promoting alcohol.
I have two main issues with this stance:
First, The NFL and alcohol have become absolutely synonymous. Football and beer go together like peanut butter and jelly. Has it always been this way? No. Call me crazy, but sponsorship and marketing may have had something to do with this now inextricable link between booze and football. Isn’t it a little hypocritical to refuse to market alcohol virally when that already happens in every single game?
Second, the NFL is notorious for having a weak players association and doesn’t exactly take care of ex players especially well. Oh, and there is the fact that playing football has been linked with sever depression and brain damage, but it’s okay! They now have their own “scientific study” . Does it matter that the head researcher is on the NFL payroll?
The NFL needs to take care of its former players. This was a really fun and innovative way to do it. Unfortunately, it was a little too edgy for the NFL.
