Super Bowl ads don’t really seem to have the same cultural impact these days now that many of them are released days or weeks before the game. But back in 2020, there was one ad in particular that really got people talking – and not all in a good way.
The controversial ad, dubbed a “Tribute to America,” was aired by FOX NFL Sunday and featured the Johnny Cash classic “Ragged Old Flag.” The commercial featured Medal of Honor recipient Kyle Carpenter and families of 9/11 victims, as well as various scenes of the American Flag throughout history.
Sounds great, right? What could anyone possibly be mad about?
Well to get the full story, you have to remember what the culture was like in the country at the time. This was just before COVID and the George Floyd riots, during the final year of President Donald Trump’s first term.
Oh, and it was also just a couple of years removed from the debate sparked by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the national anthem.
President Trump was highly critical of athletes who chose to kneel during the anthem, and the protests continued throughout his entire first term to some degree.
Kaepernick was released by the 49ers at the end of the 2016 season, and spent much of the next few years fighting to get back into the league after claiming he was blackballed for kneeling during the anthem. The quarterback filed a grievance against the NFL in 2017, which was in litigation for until 2019 when the two sides reached a confidential settlement. In late 2019, the NFL set up a workout for Kaepernick and invited scouts from all 32 teams, but the quarterback nixed the session minutes before it was scheduled to start over issues with the workout not being public and the waiver he was asked to sign.
All that leads up to just a couple of months later and the 2020 Super Bowl – which coincidentally featured Kaepernick’s former team, the San Francisco 49ers, taking on the Kansas City Chiefs.
Leading into the game, FOX aired the controversial ad featuring Cash’s “Ragged Old Flag,” a song they had used for commercials in the past but one that many saw as a direct shot at Kaepernick in the wake of his recent attempts to work his way back into the league.
The backlash was immediate, with many taking to social media to criticize the ad:
“Why does this commercial feel racist ? #RaggedOldFlag“
“F— that ragged old flag and the inequality and racism it stands for. Educated people know that flag was created for and by people who owned slaves and saw my people as nothing but property to be abused, sold, and destroyed.”
“You can’t tell me the choice of Johnny Cash doing Ragged Old Flag wasn’t about Kaepernick”
“This old flag was a wonderful slap in the face of Colin Kaepernick.”
Of course, others agreed that the commercial was a shot at Kaepernick but supported it:
It’s also important to point out that 2020 wasn’t even the first time FOX had used the song for their Super Bowl ad, running a similar commercial in 2017 and again when they broadcast the Super Bowl in 2023. But in 2020, tensions were especially high (and as we know now, about to boil over), so it seems that everybody was looking at the ad with an especially critical eye – from one side or the other.
Now, I don’t think the NFL or FOX were specifically trying to call out Kaepernick with the ad, but I do think they were trying to send a message that would appeal to their more conservative fans and distance themselves from the then (and maybe still?) growing perception that they were opposed to patriotism and “anti-America.”
And if that was the case, the message got lost in the controversy.
The Super Bowl will be on NBC this year so I assume we won’t be seeing the ad this year, but keep an eye out in 2029 (the next year that FOX will have the big game) and see if they decide to run it back yet again.
Who knows what the country will look like by then, and whether it will be met with similar controversy…but regardless, it was an incredible ad that’s still worth watching.
