With October comes cooler weather, changing leaves, spooky
holiday decor, and the colour Pink. Yes, Pink. The National Football League's
action starts to pick up in October, getting people to pay more and more
attention each week. In light of this, the NFL has started a monster campaign
for the greater good.
We live in a world where the egocentric celebrities,
particularly the actors and the athletes, get all the fame, glory, attention,
and of course money. This is while the philanthropists, the doctors, the
scientists, who live among us, doing the most good for humanity, while the guys
with a decade less of education are getting the air time on the news. The NFL
has stepped forward to put aside the pointless hype of superstar quarterbacks,
fantasy football, and power rankings, and united with the Players' Association
to advocate for humanity. Behold, the "A CRUCIAL CATCH" campaign!
"A Crucial Catch" is in its fourth edition
advocating the fight against Breast Cancer. However, not only are they pouring
lots of money towards the cause they are also committing themselves to the most
valuable asset in any campaign for any charitable cause: information. The NFL has focused a lot on the education of
the mass of the people. The focus of the campaign is actually not on research
for a cure, though research is a beneficiary of the campaign. The true focus
for "Crucial Catch" is stressing the importance to women of getting
annual mammograms. Also, the pink apparel worn my referees, coaches, and
players, are being auctioned off, profits benefiting the Community Health
Advocates National Grants for Empowerment (CHANGE) program, organized by the
American Cancer Society. The CHANGE program's focus is outreach and mammograms
to women in poverty otherwise unable to receive preventive care.
However, the best way the advocacy campaign is working out,
is that there has been a domino effect between the players and their fans. My
"Rec" basketball league last winter had some kids who had no tattoos,
and came from otherwise okay families, but they wore arm sleeves while playing.
Of course, they taught it was cool to act like a NBA player who has tattoos so
vulgar on his arm, he has to cover his arm while playing on national television.
Anyways, the same effect has taken place in the Crucial Catch campaign but in a
positive ways. Fans, particularly kids, see professional football players
wearing pink arm bands, chin straps, socks, cleats, etc. during their football
games, so these kids, rush into their local sports supplier, buy pink
merchandise, wear them in their [the kids'] games, and bam, they are as cool as
the Pros. So now, not only do you have more merchandise being purchased, which
a percentage of the purchase goes to a respective advocacy group, but the
awareness is being spread further and further. It's a pollination effect!
So, to sum this up, the NFL has got it right, and the focus
of heroism, which is normally on sports and entertainment, not science and
medicine, is on a cause that matters. There's no politics, no "what-is-in-it-for-me?".
Just successful advocacy of stuff that matters. I am beginning to love October.
Source(s):
- NFL Pink - A Crucial Catch <http://nfl.com/pink>
