Did You Notice?

I don't know if you noticed but it seemed to me that that there were a number of ads that promoted unity.

‘Literally whitewashing’: The NFL callously removes anti-racism messaging prior to Trump’s Super Bowl attendance

MSN

By Shannon Cudd

February 9, 2025

Despite NFL commissioner’s Roger Goodell assertions that DEI initiatives will remain a permanent fixture in football, the NFL confirmed that they will remove the slogan “End Racism” from the end zone in Super Bowl LIX.

The timing of this revelation coincides with President Trump’s announcement on Tuesday that he will attend the big game. One cannot help but draw the conclusion that the league is bowing down to an administration, who is not only adamantly against DEI, but also actively working to dismantle it.

Was there an over abundance of ads with unity as a theme? Extra wrote,

Brad Pitt urged unity in a touching TV spot that aired during FOX's pre-game show ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl, referencing disasters in North Carolina and California to hammer the message home.

“By lifting others, that’s how we rise up. We, the people. Today we come together, not just these players and coaches or these teams and sides. We, all of us, the dreamers, the warriors, the builders and believers,” a scruffy Pitt said in the ad, which highlighted rebuilding after Hurricane Helene and the L.A. wildfires.

“Brought together to celebrate our greatest game, the game that teaches us what we can achieve when we gather together in a that most American of formations, the one most fundamental to every play call in every game, the huddle. Think about it. When we are bound by a common goal, we have reached heights, authored achievements, pushed progress, not alone but together, in ways that have lifted the world and one another.”

Then there was the Brad Pitt's Ad...

Actor Brad Pitt delivered a message urging American unity in a TV spot that aired during FOX's pre-game show2. Referencing disasters in North Carolina and California, Pitt emphasized that Americans can rise by lifting others and highlighted the power found in shared purpose.

ABC News 7 out of New York City...

For the third Super Bowl in a row, Come Near - a nonprofit that promotes the teachings of Jesus - is running an ad as part of its He Gets Us campaign. The ad, featuring Johnny Cash's cover of "Personal Jesus," shows everyday people being helpful and heroic. And the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, founded by New England Patriots Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft, has a stark ad featuring Snoop Dogg and Tom Brady saying what they hate about each other, in an effort to show how pointless hate is.

Xu said she expected more ads promoting that unifying message. But for the most part, advertisers went with humor, she said.

"We just had an election year and there's a lot of discussion around divisiveness," she said. "People might be wanting to see some unity, everybody coming together as a country."

Adweek reported that that Rocket's Country Home ad contained...

The ad: The mortgage company Rocket has gone for laughs in the past, but this year took a more serious tone. It shows scene after scene of families enjoying intimate moments in their homes or moving into them. A cover of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” plays in the background, and the spot ends with a play for unity, saying that “everyone deserves their shot at the American dream.”

How it aimed to touch hearts: Given the divisiveness of the political and cultural moment, anything that sounds like a call for unity has an emotional tinge to it. The brand told ADWEEK that it was a “complete departure” from its previous work. The Super Bowl ad also included an IRL singalong moment: After the ad aired, Rocket organized a singalong to “Country Roads” inside the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. 

Then Dove had this commercial:

I thought with the NFL dropping "End Racism" it looked liked to me the that the sponsors did a dig at Trump's anti-DEI stance.

 

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Updated: 10:30AM