The destruction of the NFL’s brand

In this post, I talked about the values of the NFL and how they penalize their players.  In the post, I was annoyed and outraged by the fact that cheating led to a more serious penalty then domestic assault drug abuse, and animal abuse.  I questioned what the NFL truly valued.

Many responded with the fact they the NFL employed these players and could choose to penalize them how they saw fit.  Others said that it was likely that the penaliziation against Brady and the Patriots would be reduced or thrown out in the coming months.

Breaking News: Tom Brady’s suspension is being upheld, while Le’Veon Bell’s drug suspension was reduced to 2 games.

To those who stated that the NFL is a place of employment and could penalize it’s players however it saw fit:  Let’s talk a little bit more openly about this one.  The NFL is not your local retail store or local business.  The NFL is a brand that markets through media and other forms of advertisement as American Heroes.  And when they make a decision to penalize someone more heavily for cheating over someone who is using drugs or beating their significant other/children, they are saying that their Brand views deflating footballs as being worse than fighting and killing animals or child abuse.

Think about it this way: Big companies and entities such as the NFL care very much for their public image.  That’s why they have a public relations specialist.  When someone says or does something racist, immediately, they are apologizing not always because they are sorry or they didn’t mean what they said, but because the Brand that they are supporting is saying “You need to fix this because it’s going to hurt us all.  And not only is it going to hurt us all, it’s going to lead to you getting dropped.”

In this case: The people who are being harmed by drug abuse (which is on the rise and killing our youth) and those who want to make money off animals that are being forced to rip each other apart or the people who are being assaulted, are not being heavily penalized or their penalities are being reduced.

And while I think heavily penalizing someone for cheating is important, because it shows not only children but the world that you will not benefit from doing the wrong thing, the punishment must fit the crime.

Personally, I am not a football fan, but I am a mother.  And as a mother, I expect the NFL’s brand, something that they have worked hard to create, to uphold better values than this.   They have the opportunity to set an example and show the world that we will not tolerate needless cruelty but instead, they are showing that these acts are “frowned upon”.

 

Jamie Webster

About Jamie Webster

Just your average blogger. Married 2 years with two wonderful children who are 6 years apart. Little about me: I’m turning 31 this year (yikes), have had 9 foot surgeries in 8 years and have spent a little over 4 years of my life in and out of a wheel chair (or scooter). And today, I am training for a half marathon. I attribute two major changes in my life to my healing: the power of goal setting and going gluten free.