We are a few days away from seeing our beloved NFL stars back on our screen. However, as per NFL Network’s latest promo video, it feels like we are days away from watching Taylor Swift back on our screen, thanks to the amount of screen time she had in the brief video. Not so surprisingly, this has left fans very disappointed.
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The promo, captioned by the NFL Network as “Football is back this week,” is a 29-second compilation footage of the thrills that an NFL game offers. While the idea is an age-old trope where the footage is dominated by its biggest stars, the NFL’s social media team took a questionable approach by prominently featuring the pop star in the video.
For context, the Bad Blood hitmaker was shown 5 times in the clip. And to put things into context, top NFL stars like Joe Burrow, CJ Stroud, Brock Purdy, Matthew Stafford, Jordan Love, and TJ Watt weren’t even featured.
Fans were naturally pissed with this move by the NFL social media team and rightfully took to social media to let their frustration known. From a few calling it “ridiculous” to Swifties justifying it by calling it a smart marketing move, the hype video has opened the floodgates on social media.
This shit is getting ridiculous
— Herm (@DeonteBanksMVP) September 3, 2024
They glaze Taylor Swift like crazy
— (@CowboysDubs) September 3, 2024
She’s literally more famous than all of them combined… it’s called marketing.
— Drink More Water | Get More Sleep (@hughart_michael) September 3, 2024
Well, they should try winning a Super Bowl…aside from her world stardom, she’s dating the best TE in the league, who went to the SB, back-to-back…so when you’re apart of the winning team, and it was a recap video from last season, kinda adds up ♀️
— Jenna (@jennaxkc) September 3, 2024
What irked the fans most, however, was the blatant use of Swift for marketing purposes. While the move theoretically is great, it’s quite questionable from a macro lens.
Did NFL Network do the right thing by making Taylor the focus of their promo?
Taylor undeniably had a game-changing impact on the NFL with her presence last year. Apart from making the Chiefs and Travis Kelce a household name, Swift’s biggest contribution was to introduce the NFL to an untapped cohort of young women. Clearly, her impact was humongous, and it arguably deserves recognition.
On the other hand, showing the reigning NFL MVP only once while the pop star is featured five times more is no longer a marketing tactic. It’s arguably disrespectful to the athletes who are the heart and soul of the NFL.
That said, the NFL Network could have definitely produced a better hype video for the season. Even if one were to ignore the Taylor issue, the video was too basic and lacked the hype-inducing elements, which several fans preached in the comments. Let’s hope that this is a one-off from the NFL’s social media team and not a teaser for what’s ahead.
