Super Bowl 49 attracted viewers of all ages from across the country not only to watch the game and the halftime show but also to see the infamous commercials. Every year the Super Bowl is expected to show a great football game and some great commercials that keep people talking for a long while. This year the National Football League (NFL) took a strong stance on domestic violence and on the biggest night of the season a chilling commercial, that does not show anyone at all, played making an impact on its viewers about domestic violence.
Throughout the season, the NFL played a number of commercials featuring athletes and celebrities alike becoming very emotional when asked to speak about the effects of domestic violence. However, Sunday’s thirty-second commercial from No More, an anti-domestic-violence coalition, had viewers listening more than just watching. The commercial opens with the camera focusing on a portrait sitting on top of a mantel, with the voice over of 911 dispatcher answering an emergency call. The call transcript is not a typical one, when the woman begins to order a pizza rather than explaining that she has an emergency.
Throughout the commercial you hear the dispatcher catch on to the fact that the woman is not confused but is actually in need of assistance but is unable to explain the circumstances. All the while the commercial depicts a home that has been destroyed in the aftermath of what seems to have been a fight. The idea to use the 911 call, rather than simply speaking about domestic violence, arose from conversations with advocacy groups, 911 dispatchers, and police. No More found that these calls are not an anomaly. In fact, in South Carolina, dispatchers are trained to recognize domestic crises calls through the use of calls in which the caller is pretending to order food.
While the rate of domestic violence incidents has dropped in the past two decades, the problem is still widespread. Statistics show that one in four women, and one in seven men have experienced some sort of intimate physical violence in their lifetimes. No More estimates that sixty percent of Americans know someone who has been a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault. Awareness has been spread through the use of ads that are directed at raising awareness to bystanders rather than explaining domestic violence crimes. The National Domestic Violence Hotline has reported that their second-highest caller type is “family and friends or concerned individuals.”
The ad is one of the most talked about ads from the Super Bowl due to its emotional impact on its viewers. Your Pennsylvania Domestic Violence Lawyers at Taybron Law Firm, LLC have helped a number of people obtain protective orders from their abusers and provide the victims with information about how to go forward from that relationship. If you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship and is in need of a protective order or is in need of information on their rights, contact our office today to set up a consultation with one of our attorneys.
Source: http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/super-bowl-domestic-violence-ad