The people who work in the NFL’s marketing department must enjoy provoking the league’s hardcore football fans.
In the short run, the marketers’ new strategy might earn the league some attention from teenage girls. But at what cost?
Monday on the social media platform X, the NFL drew fans’ ire by posting a 30-second promotional video that somehow managed to feature five different clips of pop megastar Taylor Swift.
On Thursday, the NFL season will begin when the Baltimore Ravens visit the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs.
The season will conclude in February with Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, Louisiana.
To get fans excited for the journey, the promotional video included highlights from past games played in each month, from September through February.
Unfortunately, Swift’s ubiquitous presence overshadowed some otherwise electrifying highlights.
During the 2023 season, Swift began appearing at Kansas City’s games, both home and away, to cheer on her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
The NFL and its broadcasting partners took advantage of the pop megastar’s presence, much to the chagrin of many fans who would have preferred that the focus remain on the game and its players.
Is the NFL shilling for Taylor Swift?
Yes: 94% (60 Votes)
No: 6% (4 Votes)
Kansas City capped the season with a 25-22 Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
Thus, television viewers saw plenty of Swift and Kelce.
Ironically, in the promotional video posted on Monday, Kelce himself appeared only three times. And one of those appearances showed him kissing his famous girlfriend.
Meanwhile, fans caught only one glimpse of Chiefs quarterback and three-time Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, the 2023 NFL MVP, did not even get the entire screen to himself when he made his lone appearance in the video.
In other words, Swift had as many appearances as Kelce, Mahomes and Jackson combined.
Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud, the 2023 NFL Rookie of the Year and an outspoken Christian, did not appear.
Nor did Mahomes’s wife Brittany, a supporter of former President Donald Trump.
FOOTBALL IS BACK THIS WEEK 🏈 🚨 pic.twitter.com/YVR8kbZnfm
— NFL (@NFL) September 2, 2024
On X, one prominent football-related account noted seven other NFL superstars snubbed along with Stroud.
🚨TRENDING: IN THE 2024 #NFL OFFICIAL HYPE VIDEO… TAYLOR SWIFT WAS SHOWN 5 TIMES
• JOE BURROW: ZERO TIMES
• FAKE FAN: 1
• CJ STROUD: ZERO
• BROCK PURDY: ZERO
• MATTHEW STAFFORD: ZERO
• JORDAN LOVE: ZERO
JUSTIN JEFFERSON: ZERO
MYLES GARRETT: ZERO
TJ WATT: ZEROWILD 😳 https://t.co/fCH1Fi9D7b pic.twitter.com/d830GH6XCW
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) September 3, 2024
After watching the Swift-heavy video, another X user called the NFL’s X account “insufferable.”
showing taylor swift 5 times in a hype vid for opening week is already making this page insufferable https://t.co/3vG0Sewk6B
— christian (@chralop) September 3, 2024
And another X user apparently hoped that expressing disdain in all capital letters would get the NFL’s attention.
STOP SHOWING TAYLOR SWIFT WE DONT CARE
— Jake 🇺🇸 (@LandOfTatum) September 3, 2024
Last month, we learned that the administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris cannot account for roughly 325,000 migrant children.
Thus, truth be told, I cannot get too worked up over an NFL promotional video.
Likewise, in fairness to Swift, I have seen no indication that she has courted the league’s attention. It appears that the NFL has decided to showcase her for its own purposes, not the other way round.
Nonetheless, I acknowledge that she does not appeal to the NFL’s hardcore fan base.
In fact, it might be more accurate to say that those hardcore fans probably feel like forgotten men and women whom the league’s establishment take for granted.
As we have seen in the political realm, that will not work out for the NFL in the long run.
