The NFL is taking advantage of the infamous Superbowl ads with a contest in which thousands submitted an idea for an independent ad to air during the Superbowl. The NFL narrowed the list down to 12 so we can vote for our favorites.
The pitches, unsurprisingly, aren’t captioned. Thanks to Dan Johnson who notified me about the contest and described Pitch #12 from Vanessa. It sounds like a winner and I hope you consider checking it out. Here’s Dan’s description:
Video of a family in their living room, getting ready to head out to the Super Bowl, grabbing their tickets and packing things up. A boy sits near the TV, juggling his football, watching NFL coverage via the captions. He’s not all that aware of what’s going on and obviously doesn’t share the excitement the rest of the family shares. His mother taps him on the shoulder, telling him it’s time to go. Then it cuts to the stadium, where the football teams have just entered the field. The crowd goes wild, but the boy seems unenthused because his world is silent, which we get to see from his perspective for the first time, as the camera pans across the stadium without any sound. Then he closes his eyes and sits down in the bleachers. He puts his hands on the armrests and feels the vibration from the rest of the crowd.
Then a cut to former deaf NFL player Kenny Walker and Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher, using sign language to say, “Feel the Game.”
It’s an opportunity to raise deaf awareness. Go vote!
3 comments
Gosh, wouldn’t it be nice if ALL of the Super Bowl commercials were captioned? Every year, I get so frustrated at the non-captioned ones!
Hello, I’m Vanessa from pitch#12. I would like to thank you for your support, and although I was leading the online (public) vote by 12%, the NFL decided to choose Pitch #5 from Gino. It’s sad because I was hoping to inspire children, families, and all fans, especially those with disabilities. I guess the “funny ad” won over the “inspirational” ad. I am sad;however, what upset me the most was to see the terrible comments of young people who bashed my ad in the You Tube when the NFL decided to post our ads two days before the competition was over. We are talking about a young generation who is heartless and doesn’t understand that we are all equal and that we should put an end on discrimination. I hope one day the world will understand this….Best Wishes to all of you! Vanessa
While I like that “Feel the Game” tagline, that description of a deaf kid seems unrealistic to me. As a deaf child, I wasn’t walking around spaced out or unaware of what was going on around me. If I saw people around me jumping up and down and screaming, I’d get excited too.
This portrayal is too “poor deaf kid” for me. I would have connected more with it had it described an alert, excited kid wanting to be part of what was going on around him. Maybe they could have shown him grinning broadly and being carried on his dad’s back, with his hands resting on the base of his dad’s neck so he could feel his dad yell.
Better yet, get away from the whole cheesy sound thing and do something with the visuals. Show the kid focusing on the gestures the players make. The endzone dances. The cryptic hand signals from the coach. The mascot’s antics. We deaf people live in a very visual world, and that’s what makes us tick.