With the Super Bowl just a few days away, it’s time to start looking at one of the best parts of the whole thing… the commercials.
These days, they give you the commercials a week early and by the time the game rolls around, you’ve already seen half of them. It completely takes the magic out of it, I hate it, but when you’re spending almost a quarter of a million bucks per SECOND, I get why brands are moving towards maximum exposure. And sure, the game itself can be great, but it can also be a complete blowout. The commercials, while some years are better than others, you can at least count on them each year to be entertaining.
But ahead of the Super Bowl in 2020, Fox and the NFL debuted a brand new commercial featuring Johnny Cash’s “Ragged Old Flag.” The commercial was dubbed a “Tribute to America,” and featured Medal of Honor recipient Kyle Carpenter and families of 9/11 victims, as well as various scenes of the American Flag throughout history.
It’s the kind of commercial that can stop you in your tracks, give you goosebumps, and make you think about the men and women that died to protect that flag.
But for many others, they saw it as a direct shot at Colin Kaepernick.
And while I don’t think that was the intent of FOX to specifically take a shot at Kap, I do think the NFL was trying to combat an anti-American sentiment that was attached to the NFL since players started kneeling during the national anthem back in 2016.
Others felt it was a shot at Kaepernick as well, but one that he deserved.
A similar commercial, using the patriotic Cash song, aired ahead of the Super Bowl in 2017 as well.
And then again last year… the NFL loves “Ragged Old Flag” apparently.
