#boycott the nfl

[master-jarrus]

Superbowl ad black out

What is it?

An organized boycott with the intention of getting the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) attention to the current suffering of the NON 1%

What can you do?

If you are safe to you can turn off the tv for 2 minutes when the ads start

You can live stream the game from a private source (people not networks)

Or just not watch the game at all

What will this do?

It will waste billionaires money

It will mess with the analytics around the superbowl (and theres a lot)

It will make an impact, what kind will soon be discoverd

What organization is this affiliated with?

As of currently we are not an organization. Just a few people who are upset with the way things are and are listening to other people who are equally upset. We were standing to make a difference and we're hoping you will too

[dwm02]

In September 2023, the NFL stopped playing "The Star Spangled Banner" before its games.

And THAT'S why I don't watch pro football!!

[the-big-cheese]

Hey can we start boycotting the NFL? Isn’t there more cases of domestic abuse and murder during the Super Bowl than any other time of the year? I swear you’d think that football would be entirely banned at this point with how much violence it causes

[msclaritea]

[longlivetv]

A man made Taylor Swift a friendship bracelet and that somehow persuaded my dad to end his 25 year boycott of the NFL

[rebootgrimm]

Brands that are Pro-Israel under cut!!! Boycott them!!

Accenture

AccuWeather

ActionIQ

Ahava

AirBnB

Alaska Air

AllianceBernstein

Allianz

Amazon

Amdocs

American Airlines

American Eagle

American Wire Group

Amwell

Apollo

Apple

Aramis

ArentFox Schiff

Ariel

Atlassian

Authentic Brands

Aveda

Avery Dennison

Axel Springer

Bain & Company

Bank of America

Bank of New York Mellon

Baskin Robins

Bath & Body Works

Baupost Group

Bayer

BBC

BCG

Bioventus

Blackrock

Blackstone

Black & Decker

Bloomberg

Bobby Brown Essentials

Boeing

Bosch

Bounty

Bristol Myers Squibb

Bumble and Bumble

Burger King

Cadbury

Caltex

Capri Holdings

CareTrust REIT

Caterpillar

CeraVe

Chanel

Chapman and Cutler

Cisco

Citadel

Citi

Clinique

CNN

Coca-Cola

Comcast

Condé Nast

CV Starr

Cytokinetics

Davis Polk

Dell

Deloitte

Delta Air Lines

Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Telekom

DeviantArt

DHL Group

Disney

Donna Karan Cosmetics

Douglas Elliman

Dove

Edelman

Eli Lily

Endeavor

Energizer

Estée Lauder

EY

Facebook

Fanta

Fiverr

Forbes

Ford

Fox Corp

Gamida Cell

GE

General Catalyst

General Motors

Genesys

Gillette

Goldman Sachs

Google

Hardee’s

Hearst

Henkel

Herbert Smith Freehills

Hewlett Packard

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

HP

HubSpot

Huntsman Corp

H&M

IBM

Insight Partners

Instacart

Instagram

Intel

Intermedia

Interpublic Group

Intuit

Jane

Jazwares

Jefferies

Johnson & Johnson

Jo Malone

JP Morgan

Kate Spade

Kenon Holdings

Kit-Kat

KKR

KPMG

La Mer

Lays

Lego

Lemonade

Levi Strauss

Lifebouy

LinkedIn

Lipton

Live Nation Entertainment

L’Oréal

MAC Cosmetics

Maggie

Major League Baseball

Mango

Manpower Group

Mars

Marsh & McLennan

Mastercard

Mattel

McDermont Will & Emery

McDonalds

McKinsey

Merck

Merck KGaA

Meta

MeUndies

Microsoft

Milo

Morgan Lewis

Morgan Stanley

Motorola

MRC

Nasdaq

National Basketball association (NBA)

National Geographic

NeoGames

Nescafé

Nestle (and anything that stems from them)

Netflix

NFL

Nido

Nike

Nokia

Novartis

Nvidia

Okta

Omnicon Group

Oracle

Oreo

Origins Natural Resources

Palantir

Pampers (Procter & Gamble)

Paramount Global

Paul Weiss

PepsiCo

Perishing Square

Pfizer

Philips (66)

Pillsbury

Prescriptives

Progressive

Pringles

Puma

PVH

Raytheon

Regeneration Pharmaceuticals

Related Companies

Revlon

Ribbon

Riskified

Sabra Hummus

Sales Force

SAP

Sequoia Capital

Seyfarth Shaw

Siemens

Signal

Simons Property Group

Skydance

Snickers

SodaStream

Sony

SoulCycle

Sprite

StagWell

Starbucks

State Street

Stila Cosmetics

Subway

Sweet Green

Synovus

Tang

Tesla

Teva Pharmaceuticals

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Tieks by Gavreli

Tide

Toblerone

Tommy Hilfiger Toiletries

Tory Burch

Tribe Hummus

Troutman Pepper

Twin

UBS

United Airlines

Universal Music Group

UPS

UpWork

US Chamber of Commerce

Verizon

Victoria’s Secret 

Vim

Volkswagon

Volvo

Vontier

Wall’s

Walmart

Warby Parker

Warner Brothers Discovery

Wells Fargo

WhatsApp

Winston & Strawn

WiX

WWE

Zara

Zoff Davis

Zoom

[tendie-defender]

This whole liberty safes “boycott” will last about as long as the Daniel defense boycott, the benchmade boycott, the nfl boycott, nba boycott, Coca-Cola boycott, and so on and so on.

I’m sure there will be a lot of second hand safes on the market for cheap. Get one, change the digital lock to a mechanical dial. Lol

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

TAYLOR DERANGEMENT SYNDROME TAKES OVER INADEQUATES, INC.

TCINLA

JAN 31, 2024

The Bulwark’s entertainment editor, Sonny Bunch, gets it right about this week’s MAGA brainfart over Taylor Swift:

“Of all the dumb things the nascent nouveau right has tried over the years, attempting to turn conservatives against the NFL is by far the dumbest.

“It’s a sort of brainwashing, like you see in 1984 or Scientology. Get people to say the dumbest shit imaginable (“Two hot celebrities dating is a psyop culm,inating in the Illuminati fixing the Super Bowl so you’ll have to get vaccinated!”) and they’ll believe anything.”

Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift hasn’t even endorsed President Joe Biden for reelection yet. That hasn’t stopped upper crust members of MAGAworld Inadequates Inc. from declaring a “holy war” on the pop mega-star, especially if she ends up publicly backing the Democrats in the 2024 election.

According to three people familiar with the matter, Trump loyalists working on or close to the former president’s campaign, longtime Trump allies in right-wing media, and an array of outside advisers to the ex-president have long taken it as a given that Swift will eventually endorse Biden, as she did in 2020. Indeed, several of these Republicans and conservative media figures have discussed the matter with Trump over the past few months. In recent weeks, the Inadequate-in-Chief has told people that no amount of A-list celebrity endorsements will save Biden. Trump has also privately claimed that he is “more popular” than Swift is and that he has more committed fans than she does. Last month, he said that it “obviously” made no sense that he was not named Time magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year,an honor that went to none other than Swift.

The state of affairs among MAGA Inadequates Inc. is truly remarkable. A subset of America actually purports to boycott Disney, the world's preeminent entertainment company; Bud Light, once America's most popular beer; Target, the quintessential brick-and-mortar shopping destination; Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company that produced life-saving Covid-19 vaccines; Major League Baseball, the nation's favorite pastime; and now Taylor Swift, a generational icon who is one of the most successful musical artists of all time.

It’s incredibly idiotic, but the online right-wing worldview ALWAYS chooses bizarre conspiracies as their default setting for any event that captures the public interest. As Jonah Goldberg put it at The Dispatch, “Now they declare war on the National Football League and Taylor Swift - what’s next, sunny days and hotdogs?”

World’s Dumbest Mick and Proof the English Were Right, Sean “Hammerhead” Hannity, running to not be late to the party, has concluded Taylor Swift was lied to and misled by the left, saying, “Maybe she just bought into all the lies about conservatives and Republicans, that they’re racist and sexist and homophobic, and xenophobic and transphobic and Islamophobic, that Republicans and conservatives want dirty air and water and a total ban on all abortion with no exceptions. If she believes all that, she is believing a lie because those talking points are simply untrue. Now, I’m just saying maybe she wants to think twice before making a decision About 2024.”

(Mmmm, Sean baby, I hate - no, I don’t, I love it! - being the guy to tell you that it’s you who have been misinformed. All you and the rest of the seething Inadequates ARE INDEED “racist and sexist and homophobic, and xenophobic, and transphobic, and Islamophobic, and want dirty air and water, and a total ban on all abortion with no exceptions.” IT’S YOU baby!!)

Every last one of the Inadequates - from The Inadequate-in-Chief, to Best-Dressed Turd Steve Bannon, to reincarnation of Reinhard Heydrich Steven Miller, through all the otherwise-unemployable grifters like junior college flunkout Charlie Kirk - knows in their heart that no matter what they ever do, nothing will ever lead to the glass door they have had their noses pressed to all their loser lives opening with an invitation to come inside.

Trump knows that all the famous golfers he invites to his courses tell everyone they know about how he cheats so obviously, and laugh at him.

Miller knows that the Cool Kidz at Santa Monica High who laughed at him for all those years won’t be inviting him to the After Party at his Twentieth Year Reunion next year.

Bannon knows that no one in Hollywood who matters is ever going to return his many phone calls.

Because They. Are. Losers.

It’s the knowledge of how Inadequate they all are and always have been that drives them, like the lost souls in “The Day of the Locust,” to want to knock down Taylor Swift - who has shattered virtually every major record in the music industry, as she lives her best life supporting her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, while she breaks the brains of each one of the Inadequates.

The digital fever swamps are where the boys no woman would ever touch gather to fume over everything and anything Swift-related. Her world-wide popularity, the success of the Eras Tour - which is so big that it has notably added to the country’s Gross National Product - her relationship, her appearances at NFL games, and especially her politics - all of that drives the losers crazy.

When the Chiefs won the AFC championship on Sunday, punching the team’s ticket to the Super Bowl (for the third time since t hey appeared in the first on), the Inadequates began shouting about long-standing conspiracy theories around the NFL’s “scriptwriting” for football seasons.

All that gets added to the river of shit pouring from the Inadequate conspiracy theorists who have been claiming since she was first spotted at a Chief’s game that Swift’s involvement with Kelce is part of a deep state plot to build support for President Biden in the 2024 election.

The result is as ugly as it is stupid.

Millenial We’d All Like To Throw From An Upper Story Window Head First, Inadequate blowhard Vivek Ramaswamy, tweeted last Monday that he wondered “who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month,” adding, “I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall. Just some wild speculation over here, let’s see how it ages over the next 8 months.”

That was in response to Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec, who suggested there was a suspicious shift in Swift’s political leanings over the past several years.

Laura Loomer - who it’s rumored gives the worst blowjobs of any of the professional MAGA bimbos - wrote on Elmo’s Xitter (that’s pronounced, “shitter”) that “The Democrats’ Taylor Swift election interference psyop is happening in the open. They are going to use Taylor Swift as the poster child for their pro-abortion GOTV Campaign.”

Swift has not yet announced if she’ll attend the Super Bowl — as she has a concert in Tokyo, Japan the night before (Due to the International Date Line that allows her to leave Japan just before midnight of the day before the event and arrive in Las Vegas in the early afternoon of the day before the event, she’s pretty likely) Looney Loomer suggested in another post that Swift would be seated next to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom at the game. “Just in time for 2024.”

Far-right influencer Rogan O’Handley posted a message on Xitter addressed to the San Francisco 49ers, in which he suggested that if the Chiefs won the Super Bowl, Swift and Kelce would trigger an apocalyptic chain of events that would kill millions. “You MUST defeat the Chiefs! If you don’t, Mr. Pfizer and his girlfriend are going to tour the country as ‘world champions’ helping elect Joe Biden WW3 will likely follow in a 2nd Biden term and millions will die. The fate of the free world rests upon your shoulders”

Failed GOP candidate Jack Lombardi II wrote on Xitter that he has “never been more convinced that the Super Bowl is rigged. With all the unneeded and unwanted Taylor coverage at the games. KC’s journey to the Superbowl – totally scripted … KC wins. And then later [they announce] their support for Biden. Coincidental? No. Bought and paid for couple. SMH.” He later posted that, “Taylor Swift is nothing more than a controlled influencer who has been put to work by those who seek to destroy America. She is a very talented operative working for the same group responsible for the timely and coincidental covid-19.”

Podcast host Mike Crispi raged that “The NFL is totally RIGGED for the Kansas City Chiefs, Taylor Swift, Mr. Pfizer (Travis Kelce). All to spread DEMOCRAT PROPAGANDA. Calling it now: KC wins, goes to Super Bowl, Swift comes out at the halftime show and ‘endorses’ Joe Biden with Kelce at midfield.”

And just to prove that every part of MAGA Inadequates, Inc., is aboard for this shitshow, when I was in the grocery store this afternoon, I spotted the new issue of the National Inquirer in the rack by the checkout line. The third headline read” “CROOKED NFL REFS ALL IN FOR RIGGING SUPER BOWL.”

Republican Georgia politician Kandiss Taylor wrote that she “tried to warn yall back in October that the influence of [Taylor Swift] on our youth with witchcraft was demonic, evil, and Luciferian. Of course, Satan wants to use her now to elect Joe back into the White House to destroy what’s left of America.”

Conservative commentator Benny Johnson freaked out over a magazine stand at a Barnes & Noble that had been stocked exclusively with Taylor Swift covers. He posted on Xitter that “Taylor Swift is an op. It’s all fake. You’re being played.”

Charlie Warzel, staff writer at The Atlantic who covers the intersection of politics, technology, and culture, wrote, "There’s something striking about watching the far-right tying itself in knots and attacking Swift and Kelce that demonstrates how badly the far-right media has alienated itself from most of society. They’ve built out this alternate universe and reality of grievance and it feels like instead of using it to wage an effective culture war, they’re fully lost in it and can’t see that they’ve chosen as their primary enemy the person with the literal highest approval rating in American life right now."

TCinLA

[whitesinhistory]

And there it is. This is why it's so vital to crush dissent. Universities like Columbia pretend to be centers of learning, wisdom and freedom, but the reality is Columbia has a $14 billion endowment and leaders who make seven-figures. The protests threaten that. It's a business. - Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC)

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is pulling his support for Columbia University over the treatment of Jewish students and faculty during pro-Palestinian protests at the campus in New York City.

This is another reason why you should boycott the NFL. Robert Kraft is a traitor to humanity who seeks to promote lies, and obtain power, and riches.

[90363462]

Calling a happily and faithful married woman of color a tramp to glaze an old white dude makes you nothing more than a nigpene and a hoe.

Calling an accomplished woman of color a “tramp” when all she’s done is work hard to rise from prosecutor to CA AG to US Senator to VP to Presidential-

while campaigning for a guy who called football players animals and called to boycott the NFL for simply standing up against police brutality AND openly calling for police immunity

-is next level crazy work.

And please explain how a man with six baby mamas calls anybody a tramp. Make it make sense!! If anything this man’s the real TRAMP!! A slut! A heaux!

This is what Barack Obama was talking about….🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️ I hope this ignites and infuriates all black men as much it infuriates my husband , brother and black adult sons and the all black man I love, I know that I’m outraged as any should and would.

Hope that check bounces. Stupid heaux .

Harriet Tubman would have done this to him

[wrestlinghistorywithkay]

Behind The Iron Claw: The Von Erich Story Part 2

TW: Death , Drug Use , Drowning, Electric Shock, Suicide , Automobile Accident, Mental Health, Illness

Hey Everyone! Here is Part 2 of the true story of the Von Erich family. This article is going to focus on the Second Generation of the Von Erich family. If you haven’t read part 1 about Fritz Von Erich , please check it out !

Jack Barton Adkisson Jr - Jack was the eldest child of Fritz and Doris Adkisson ( Von Erich ). He was born on September 21 , 1952. He would never live a full life. He passed away from drowning after being electrocuted by a trailer tongue on March 7,1959 at the age of 6. Fritz would stop traveling the East Coast to wrestle and it would affect Doris to the brink of where she tried to protect her other sons.

Kevin Ross Adkisson ( Kevin Von Erich ) - Kevin is the second eldest son of Doris and Fritz Adkisson. He was born on May 15,1957. He is the only surviving Von Erich brother . Kevin began his career in 1976 with his first opponent being Playboy Buddy Rose. He was a naturally gifted athlete, playing football. However , he didn’t want to be a wrestler at first , he wanted to play in the NFL. Kevin would spend the majority of his career in his family’s promotion , WCCW ( World Class Championship Wrestling), the Dallas territory of the National Wrestling Alliance ( NWA). Kevin began wrestling barefoot in 1982. He is a multi time tag team champion alongside brothers David and Kerry being his main partners, and father, Fritz. He is also a 1x WCCW TV Champion , 2x WCWA Texas Heavyweight Champion, 1x WCWA World Heavyweight Champion, 1x NWA North American Champion.

David Alan Adkisson ( David Von Erich ) - David is the third child of Fritz and Doris. He was born on July 22,1958. David made his wrestling debut in 1977, the year after his brother , Kevin , debuted. David was also a gifted athlete, playing football and basketball. He would be the breakout star of the family due to his explosive temper. He would be known for his two out of three falls match with Harley Race due to wrestling him to a 30 minute draw. This match happened on August 15,1977. He would also wrestle in WCCW being a multi tag team champion alongside his brothers Kevin and Kerry, and Dory Funk Jr. David would join Championship Wrestling from Florida in 1981 being a 1x NWA Florida TV Champion, North American Tag Team Champion with Dory Funk Jr., and a 1x NWA Southern Heavyweight Champion ( Florida). He would also have several NWA World Heavyweight Championship reigns. He would have a rivalry with ‘ The Nature Boy ’ Ric Flair. David would have personal struggles , losing his daughter , Natosha, to SIDS ( Sudden Infant Death Syndrome ) , and a divorce from his first wife , Candy. David would pass away at the age of 25 on February 10,1984 while on a tour in Japan. His cause of death was listed as Enteritis, a condition in which the small intestine is inflamed. There are many theories surrounding David’s death. David was known as ‘ The Yellow Rose of Texas ’.

Kerry Gene Adkisson ( Kerry Von Erich ) - Kerry is the fourth child of Fritz and Doris. He was born on February 3,1960. Like his brothers, Kevin and David, Kerry was also a gifted athlete. He was a track and field star. He was training for the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow until President Jimmy Carter asked athletes to boycott the games. Kerry debuted in WCCW in 1978. He was multi time tag team champion with his brothers , David, Kevin , and Mike being his main partners. He was a 1x NWA World Heavyweight Champion ( defeating Ric Flair in 1984 in memory of David), 3x NWA Texas Heavyweight Champion, 4x WCWA World Heavyweight Champion all before being signed to Vince McMahon’s WWF in 1990. He would make his WWF debut in June 1990 against Playboy Buddy Rose. He would be known as the ‘ Texas Tornado’. He is a 1x WWF Intercontinental Champion. Kerry would be involved in motorcycle accident on June 4,1986. He would suffer a severely injured right leg and a dislocated hip. Kerry would have his right foot amputated. He wrestled with a prosthetic foot and kept it as a secret from wrestling fans. He would also face his own personal demons with addictions to painkillers and other substances. He would also go through a divorce from his wife , Cathy, and two arrests. One of the arrests would lead to him being jailed due to violating his probation from the first one. Kerry took his own life on February 18,1993 at the age of 33. His cause of death was a self inflicted gunshot wound to the heart. Bret Hart has stated that he tried to help Kerry with his mental health and tried to convince him to stay for his daughters.

Michael ‘ Mike ’ Brett Adkisson ( Mike Von Erich ) - Mike is the fifth child of Fritz and Doris. He was born on March 2,1964. Mike never wanted to be an in ring competitor. He wanted to work as a cameraman for WCCW. He also loved music, playing the guitar and having a dream of becoming a guitarist. Mike made his debut in 1983 at WCCW: Wrestling Star Wars against Skandor Akbar. He would also be involved with his brothers in a feud with The Fabulous Freebirds. He would be a 4x WCWA 6 Man Tag Team Champion with Kevin and Kerry , and faux Von Erich family member , Lance. He would also be a 1x WCCW Middle Eastern Champion, and a 1x NWA American Heavyweight Champion. He would also have a run in NJPW ( New Japan Pro Wrestling) in 1987. In 1985, Mike would develop Toxic Shock Syndrome ( TSS) due to shoulder surgery after suffering an injury on a tour in Israel. He would lose a large amount of weight and suffer brain damage due to being sick. In 1986, he would also suffer head injuries after being involved in a car accident. He also felt like he had to be like his brother , David , after his death according to Kevin. Mike would pass away from an overdose on April 12,1987 at the age of 23. Before his death, he would be arrested for Possession of Marijuana and a DUI.

Christopher ‘ Chris ’ Barton Adkisson ( Chris Von Erich )- Chris was the sixth and the youngest child of Fritz and Doris. He was born on September 30,1969. Chris would look up to his father and older brothers and wanted to be a wrestler just like them. However , he would never find success as a wrestler like they did. He would face health problems such as Asthma and brittle bones. He was also the smallest of the Von Erich brothers. Therefore , he would work at WCCW by working the cameras and doing other jobs for the promotion. Chris would be involved in angles helping his brothers fight off The Fabulous Freebirds. He did this by running into the ring. He would also be in the ring in 1984 when Kerry defeated Ric Flair to become the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion. He would also assist his brothers by preventing Gino Hernandez from escaping from the Von Erichs who were going to shave his head after losing a tag team match to them and hitting Buddy Roberts in the back with a steel chair at the 1985 Cotton Bowl. He would become a full time wrestler in 1990 after Kerry left WCCW for the WWF. He would have a rivalry with Percy Pringle ( Paul Bearer ) in the United States Wrestling Association ( USWA). He would team with Kevin and family friend , Chris Adams against Steve Austin and Percy Pringle. Chris would be supported by fans during his matches with the chant , ‘ Go Chris Go!’. He would suffer a five day headache after being attacked by Matt Borne ( Doink The Clown ) and Percy Pringle during their tag team match against Kerry and Kevin. Chris would be their manager. His last match would come in March 1991. Nevertheless, he would begin to struggle with substance abuse and Depression. This would come from his grief over Mike Von Erich’s death and stress due to not being able to be as successful as his brothers in the ring . Chris would pass away on September 12,1991 at the age of 21. His cause of death was a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He would be found by Doris and Kevin. He passed away at the hospital. Kevin tried to save him by telling him not to hurt himself.

The Von Erich family would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009 by Michael PS Hayes of The Fabulous Freebirds. They would also be featured in the popular VICE TV show, ‘ Dark Side of The Ring’. The episode about them is Season 1, Episode 4: The Last of The Von Erichs. They would also have a movie about their lives, ‘ The Iron Claw ’, which came out in 2023.

My Final Thoughts:

The Von Erich family tragedy is one of the darkest and saddest stories in pro wrestling. I was in tears the entire time writing this article. I wanted to write this article to celebrate their contributions to wrestling and tell their stories. Chris really stood out to me because I feel like his story was forgotten in ‘ The Iron Claw ’ and I don’t like how he was omitted from the film. I wish that he knew how he would make an impact in wrestling just by his small contributions. His strength is what made fans love him and how inspiring it was. I also wasn’t a fan of how his story was combined with Mike’s. I also wanted to pay tribute to Jack Jr as well as he never got to live a full life. If you or anyone you know is struggling with anything , please know that help is out there! I am a message away if you need help as well! I’ll do anything I can!

As Always , I Love You All

- Kay

[odyver]

i think conservatives are saying "boycotts don't work" because they never kept any of their boycotts going for longer than their momentary outrage lasted.

they 'boycott' the nfl, but are watching the next season dutifully

they 'boycott' bud light, but still buy other products from the same mother company

they 'boycott' so many material products but BUY the product to performatively smash/shoot it and post it online for internet outrage points

this kind of performative outrage is what happens when their news cycle tells them to be furious about a topic before moving on to a new thing the very next week

so keep boycotting, it IS working because we will forever care about the lives and loss of palestinians

[darkeagleruins]

And no, sadly it's not a parody.

It's time to boycott the NFL

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Michael Serazio at Vox:

For most of advertising history, “red” or “blue” as partisan loyalty signaled more your taste for Coke or Pepsi than your identity as Republican or Democrat. Mass markets, by definition, necessitated selling to both sides of the aisle. As with so much else, the presidency of Donald Trump — built upon a self-conceived human brand — radically upended those norms. Post-2016 election, one Adweek column thundered, “Brands cannot expect to play Switzerland as the rest of the world picks a side.” Consumer culture suddenly became the vehicle for political expression, with Madison Avenue giving voice to countless causes. The staid “corporate social responsibility” morphed into the more muscular “brand purpose,” which beget impassioned activism. Social justice became “trendy;” politics, the means to signal commercial “integrity.”

Today, just as during the Trump presidency, controversial issues abound, protesters convulse public spaces, and a divisive election looms. The world is picking sides — on abortion and Gaza and Trump’s trials. And from brand-land? By and large, the sound of silence. That’s because, despite prior pretense, advertising follows, not leads; it needs markets, not morality. That silence, therefore, says much about our sociopolitical moment: As culture warriors find themselves on the defensive, brands, wary from the backlash against Bud Light’s use of a trans influencer, no longer show interest in advancing their causes. Indeed, today’s primary “cause” — and, arguably, election issue — is lower on the hierarchy of needs: cost of living. That makes for a more practical, less symbolic battleground for commercial content. In 2024, whatever else might happen, the revolution will not be advertised.

During the Trump years, advertising evolved a bit like journalism: It went from ostensible objectivity and pitching its product across allegiances to satisfying partisan preferences and selling to niches. As society polarized and fragmented and everything got politicized — the NFL, safety pins, low-flow toilets — neutrality came across as craven delusion.

This fundamentally shifted the logic and basis of consumer choice. Previously, we thought, “If I’m going to buy paper towels, are they useful? Are they inexpensive?” one marketing executive explained to me. By 2020, “societal issues [had] become brand attributes ... in terms of product purchases.” The question became: How “woke” are your paper towels? If the ads of the 2010s felt like they were talking back to Trump, you're not mistaken. Like other domains of cultural production — journalism, the popular arts, academia — brand-land leans left. For many such news topics invoked commercially — race, guns, the environment — creative professionals couldn’t conceive of there being “two sides” to the story.

[...] Brand-land was arguably taking its cues from market demand: One poll found nearly three-quarters of consumers wanted retail companies to stand up for their political beliefs and another found two-thirds would switch from a brand if those didn’t align with their own. At times, those consumers themselves took the initiative on activism. Much like today’s protesters clamoring for Israel divestment, a #GrabYourWallet boycott of Trump-aligned products and companies went viral. The personal has, of course, long been political, but during the 45th presidency, the civic became commercial as never before. Then, just as quickly as it had stormed the barricades, Madison Avenue abandoned them.

[...] Again, commercial communication follows, not leads. Advertising’s activist retreat mirrors a reversal in public sentiment, perhaps a post-pandemic fatigue. One poll finds just 20 percent of Americans are now interested in corporations taking a stand on political issues or current events, and fewer than 30 percent want to hear brands opine on international conflict. Curiously, among the least supported issues (for brand engagement, at least) are many that defined the commercial battlegrounds of the Trump years: police reform, immigration, LGBTQ+ rights, and abortion.

[...]

Perhaps there’s another type of issue that’s more pressing to Americans right now, one that retail companies can uniquely speak to because, historically, that was their primary messaging domain: How much are we paying and for what? After all, rising prices are arguably the defining political issue of the Biden era. That doesn’t allow for sexy, flashy branding — or even the moral, culture war invocations of the Trump years — but it’s top of mind when you have to pay 15 bucks for a sandwich or salad at lunch. In turn, that assumed attentiveness to price and utility treats the consumer as pragmatic rather than performative: someone concerned for what a product costs and does rather than how it might reflect their sociopolitical identity. It also suggests that virtue-signal shopping is a luxury less affordable during inflationary times. Unstated by Pritchard but surely informing his caution is Bud Light’s reported billion-dollar sales slide, attributed to a transphobic boycott following a fleeting partnership with social media star Dylan Mulvaney in early 2023. When that backlash exploded, Anheuser-Busch’s CEO defensively walked back any pretense of activism: “We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people."

There had, of course, been brand politics flops before. Starbucks nudged customers and baristas to, awkwardly, “Race Together” by striking up conversations about police-exonerated killings of Black men. Pepsi similarly pissed off the entire internet with its quasi-Black Lives Matter spot attaching the soda, visually and conceptually, to street protests in a way that’s unimaginable now, given the campus unrest of recent months. The Bud Light kerfuffle, though, had more of a financial and cultural impact on the brand because it represented a real mismatch of target audience and their perceived politics. Starbucks and Pepsi fans likely didn’t find anti-racist causes wrong, just the messaging heavy-handed and poorly executed.  And post-Mulvaney, the influencer marketplace — an estimated $20 billion-plus industry — is increasingly scrutinized for risky content that might alienate one side or the other.

[...] Under Trump, brands had appointed themselves vessels for progress, most especially on matters of cultural identity like race, sex, and immigration. In the years since, corporations have backpedaled to more of that “Switzerland” neutrality, reflecting a broader retreat from DEI ambitions across both law and norms.

A trend that was dominant in the late 2010s and early 2020s, the “woke” capital movement that many brands had in their ace has begun to fall apart, owing to the ongoing inflation issue and the backlash over Dylan Mulvaney being in a single Bud Light ad.

[justinssportscorner]

Laura Clawson at Daily Kos:

Taylor Swift left Arrowhead Stadium with Kansas City NFL star Travis Kelce after cheering him on in his Sunday game while seated next to his mother. And yes, there’s a political angle here, thanks to the likes of right-wing personality Charlie Kirk—and thanks to Kelce’s own decisions. At age 33, he’s presumably contemplating what his life after the NFL will look like. Swift’s attendance at the game followed rumors that she and Kelce were dating, as well as him publicly reiterating an invitation to her to come to a game. All this focused attention on Kelce and his recent endorsement decisions, which are legitimately interesting. In the wake of the right-wing boycott of Bud Light for its promotion with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, Kelce appeared in an ad for Bud Light. Last week, he appeared in a Pfizer commercial for COVID-19 and flu vaccination. “With my schedule, saving time is key,” Kelce wrote on Instagram, alongside the video. “The CDC says you can get this season’s updated COVID-19 shot when you get your flu shot if you’re due for both. That’s why I got two shots in one stop! Ask your doctor or pharmacist if it would be right for you. You can also visit CDC’s vaccines.gov to learn more and schedule an appointment.”

This is not a guy looking to steer clear of controversy—he’s making money while telling us something about his values. He surely had other, equally lucrative endorsement offers. Kelce had taken some incoming fire over the Bud Light endorsement, including predictable labels like “woke.” But having Swift show up cheering for him renewed the attention on those decisions in predictably gross ways. [...] But here’s the thing: Swift and Kelce are huge stars—one a wee bit bigger than the other—in their respective fields, and they’ve made the decisions they’ve made, including Kelce’s endorsements and Swift pushing voter registration and making sure her “Eras” tour movie was made under an interim agreement with SAG-AFTRA, all with an understanding of the likely political fallout. The rage that we see at a big macho white guy daring to not stay in line with the right-wing culture wars is telling, as is the specific attack on his masculinity. But Kelce clearly decided that he was fine with that when he made his endorsement decisions. Basically, this is yet another thing Republicans are welcome to die mad about.

Right-wing perpetual fit-throwers are up in arms about Kansas City Chiefs TE Travis Kelce for a multitude of reasons: his alleged romance with Taylor Swift and sponsoring Bud Light and Pfizer.

[barbiebutgayer]

BOYCOTT THE SUPER BOWL!!! BOYCOTT NFL!!!

🚨‼️Keep your eyes on Palestine‼️ 🚨