The National Football League has had an extremely turbulent year. With star running backs Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson making worldwide news for all the wrong reasons, the NFL has found itself at the forefront of a national conversation about domestic violence.
After falling into a tailspin of scandals and bad publicity, the league is trying to do whatever it can to show its fans that it does, in fact, care about the issue of domestic violence, takes it extremely seriously, and is taking steps to make a difference in domestic violence prevention.
While it doesn't appear that the attempts (aside from an emotional group of PSAs that aired during the Thanksgiving Day football games) have made much impact yet, that should change with this Sunday's Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks.
During the first quarter of Sunday night's big game, the NFL will give a full minute of commercial air time to an anti-domestic violence PSA that is not only extremely effective, but also incredibly haunting. It's also the first of its kind to ever air during the Super Bowl.
In the video below, you can see the PSA for yourself and it will likely chill you to the bone. Produced by the No More campaign and the NFL, the PSA depicts a 911 call that features a nameless female calling the service to order a pizza.
At first, the 911 operator is confused and tries to explain that she has called an emergency services line. But then, he suddenly realizes what is happening. The woman is calling under the guise of ordering a pizza because her attacker is in the room with her. As soon as he realizes this, he confirms with the caller that it is, in fact, the case and lets her know that help is on the way.
Based on the story of a real 911 call that was shared on Reddit last year, the PSA is both terrifying and eye-opening in its simplicity. The juxtaposition of the 911 call with the images of a seemingly normal home in disarray works extremely well to convey the message that domestic violence can (and does) happen everywhere.
If you think the NFL is doing this as pure lip service consider the fact that, according to Slate, the league charges about $4.5 million for only 30 seconds of commercial air time during the Super Bowl.
Sure, it's merely a bandage on a problem that the National Football League ignored for far too long, but it's a step in the right direction.
Please SHARE this incredibly important video with all your friends and family! Domestic violence is a major problem and anything that can be done to raise awareness and educate people is another step forward towards snuffing it out.
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