While I was watching Sunday Night Football last night, NBC played this DirecTV ad featuring Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning nearly every commercial.
Here’s a transcript just in case you missed a word here or there, like I did. (Special thanks to The Undomestic Goddess for helping me transcribe!)
Let me tell you why you need to watch football in HD
From the one handed grabs,
For those naked bootlegs,
and all those punishing hips.
Hold up, hold up.
You’re not watching football in standard def, are you?
Only DirecTV brings you every NFL game in crystal-clear HD.
~(Manning finally looks behind him and sees the cheerleaders)~
Real funny, fellas. Real funny.
Yeah, real funny, isn’t it?
The language by itself is not problematic. A one-handed grab is what it sounds like: catching a football with one hand. In last night’s Colts game against the Arizona Cardinals, Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne actually made a one-handed grab for a touchdown. Guess who threw the ball to Wayne? Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. (Video here.) The bootleg reference seems pretty harmless too. According to About.com, a bootleg is:
An offensive play where the quarterback fakes a hand-off to a running back going one direction while he goes the opposite direction to run or pass.
Finally, Manning alludes to “all those punishing hips,” supposedly talking about the numerous injuries racked up each week.
My problem is not with the language or even the imagery. We expect to see pictures of pretty, tanned cheerleaders with big breasts and little clothing jumping around at professional football games. These women have chosen to be cheerleaders, even though it is hard work and I don’t think they get paid very much. I don’t understand why but they have chosen this. (Yes, I find it incredibly sad that I just said it’s socially acceptable for young women dance in front of thousands wearing next to nothing.)
It’s what Peyton Manning says combined with the images onscreen behind him that make this ad truly horrific. As he talks about “one-handed grabs”, we see the cheerleaders with large breasts practically bursting out of their tiny tops. The “naked bootlegs” (emphasis is mine) line is flanked with pictures of cheerleaders doing that Rockette-style dance thing. Their boots are shown but the emphasis is on their long legs as the camera pans up to their tiny white shorts. “All those punishing hips” gives a great shot of a woman’s hips swinging from side to side. How are the hips punishing? Well, I don’t want to be crude so you figure it out.
Professional football is a violent game that (currently only) men consent to play with each other. Professional cheerleaders consent to work for these teams. Those are consensual acts. Sexual violence is not. This ad, produced by DirecTV and sanctioned by NBC and the NFL, is basically endorsing violence against women. DirecTV, NBC and the NFL are saying it is OK to “grab” women’s breasts, undress women with your eyes and fantasize about having sex with her, whether she wants it or not.
Honestly, this is so disgusting I barely even want to think about it. Still, women watch football. Women play fantasy football. Believe it or not, women even subscribe to DirecTV. This type of advertising is not OK.
What You Can Do To Help:
Email DirecTV, NBC and the NFL and let them know this type of advertising is harmful to women. It objectifies women. It sanctions sexual harassment and violence. Tell them you will be boycotting DirecTV and encouraging others to do the same.
- Email DirecTV by going here
- Email NBC Sports at nbcsports@nbcuni.com
- Email NFL by going here
Please help me spread the word about this outrageous ad from DirecTV. You know the drill: email, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Maybe we an make a difference!
Ugh.
Hits. Punishing hits.