OT: P&G backs out of NFL Breast Cancer Awareness Month sponsorship
The latest casualty of the NFL’s off-field issues is the sponsorship with Proctor and Gamble, the biggest supporter of the Breast Cancer awareness campaign, most notable by the pink accoutrements worn by players. It seemed this years’ campaign was going to be more involved than previous years with one player from each team named as an official ambassador to the campaign.
Personally, given some of the victims of the incidents highlighted lately, I would expect the NFL to try its hardest to get this sponsorship back and show its commitment to supporting women. I don’t blame P&G for this move, but seems like it may have a more negative impact in the long run than they (P&G) anticipate.
Curious to hear what folks think about this.
September 19th, 2014 at 10:48 AM ^
Advertising rates/ costs drop
Advertisers negotiate new deals
Advertisers save money
Nothing is any different
September 19th, 2014 at 11:54 AM ^
A-B spent $185,300,000 (!!!!!!!!!!!) on TV advertising during NFL games last year. A-B's Market Research suppliers must be telling them they're getting a strong ROI on that TV advertising --- otherwise they wouldn't be spending such an enormous sum.
And then the subject that even if A-B wanted to back away from the NFL, where would they then spend that money? College football? Yeah, but it's not as enticing (plus, the NCAA is not a fan of this, even though there are no strict rules against it outside of official NCAA Championship events). There literally is no other place for A-B to get the "bang for the buck" that they do from advertising with the NFL.
Kind of sad, but a number of these companies KNOW they're "in bed" (of sorts) with the NFL --- they can say some strong words but they can't truly back away. P&G's different in that they don't depend on sports to reach their target demographic.
September 19th, 2014 at 10:53 AM ^
I don't see how this is a bad move for P&G. Breast cancer awareness month in the NFL isn't really about breast cancer awareness at all, its about selling pink appareal to women. And because of all of the off-field issues, that whole month is shaping up to be a really awkward month for the NFL. And the last thing P&G needs is their logo front and center when every news outlet in the world is showing players and the NFL hypocritcally draped in pink gear.
And if the NFL gets their shit together, P&G can always comes back next year or the year after.
September 19th, 2014 at 10:58 AM ^
First of all, I agree that at this moment, its the right thing for P&G to do. I don't blame them one bit, like I said. But, my point being that I do hope the NFL gets their collective shit together so that they can demonstrate a commitment to improving their reputation with women. I think the long run impact may be more severe IF the sponsorship doesn't get renewed. I think we all agree that the NFL casts a wide net. This sponsorship is only one of a number of problems they have. I will say that although the point may be to sell pink things to women, the ultimate goal is raising money that goes towards research.
September 19th, 2014 at 11:02 AM ^
Yeah, the ultimate goal is a great one. except:
http://www.si.com/si-wire/2013/10/16/pink-nfl-merchandise-breast-cancer…
Report: Less than 10 percent of NFL pink merchandise sales go toward cancer research
September 19th, 2014 at 11:05 AM ^
and I hope they use this opportunity to renegotiate a better return on that merchandise. That is disgusting.
September 19th, 2014 at 11:10 AM ^
Unfortunately there's a lot of that in a lot of "charity" work. It's always good to be able to look at fine print and see results before donating to any cause.
IIRC the actual pink apparel that the players wore (cleats, wristbands, etc) was auctioned off and all of that money went to the charities - but still.
September 19th, 2014 at 11:18 AM ^
Yeah, everyone knows that. I would say another goal is solidarity, though. Sometimes we forget that there are real people with real feelings with these diseases. I bought a Lions hat, which I was going to buy anyway, with some of that pink flare because my mother had breast cancer. She was happy to see me wearing it around because to her it meant that she was in my thoughts even when I was making a mundane purchase.
September 19th, 2014 at 12:12 PM ^
No doubt about that, just like that stupid ice bucket challenge, where only 20 percent of the proceeds go to research and the research thats being done doesn't do anything to find a cure, it just gets funneled back into big pharma. I love the idea and the awareness that these causes raise, but I absolutely refuse to participate and give my hard earned money so executives of the these NON-profit orgs can get paid.
September 19th, 2014 at 11:13 AM ^
The only reason the NFL wants to improve their reputation with women is so they can get women to spend money on tickets and apparel. They brought this whole thing on themselves by trying to draw in women and families while not actually adressing the conduct of their players.
September 19th, 2014 at 10:55 AM ^
September 19th, 2014 at 10:56 AM ^
If a beer company or car company backs away from the NFL --- that's a lot more meaningful. P&G is an important corporate supporter of the NFL, but P&G still primarily sells their stuff to women and males are still the NFL's primary demographic.
A cynic could say that P&G is trying to divert attention away from their OWN negative publicity this week ---- the reports that their Crest Toothpaste contain potentially dangerous plastic microbeads.
September 19th, 2014 at 10:59 AM ^
The NFL's (and many other's) pink "breast cancer awareness" campaigns are ridiculous in my mind. Cancer is horrible, I've got survivors in my family, and we should do all we can to cure it... but does any woman with the ability to watch the NFL and means to purchase any pink apparel NOT know to get a mammogram? A ridiculously small amount of money from each pink towel/shirt/whatever sold goes towards charity funding in the NFL's model. It's a huge corporate "Look at how much good we're doing" without doing much of anything.
Case in point - Brandon Marshall's neon cleats getting a fine despite him wearing them to promote mental health awareness. The NFL don't care about anything but a dollar.
September 19th, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
I've lost a lot of people I've loved to Cancer. My Aunt, who was almost a second mother to me died of breast cancer. My Dad has been dealing with lung cancer and prostate cancer for quite a long time.
It makes me sick that the NFL uses this shit as a money making exercise.
September 19th, 2014 at 11:17 AM ^
September 19th, 2014 at 11:20 AM ^
It's a giant marketing ploy to make money off of people that have died of breast cancer, nothing more. They know that women (and probably a few men) will buy up the pink merchandise to the tune of millions of dollars. They drop a few pennies to medical research, keep the rest for themselves and then claim they are "doing good".
The whole thing is rather sickening in my opinion. If they really cared about it, they would donate at the minimum 50% of the profits, and probably a lot more. But they know that people don't really pay attention, and this is a great way to get (steal) money from people who aren't really paying attention.
September 19th, 2014 at 11:21 AM ^
September 19th, 2014 at 11:40 AM ^
It seems like one of the larger themes in all this - if you take into consideration P&G, as well as Pepsi, McDonald's, Visa, Campbell Soup, Anheuser-Busch - and the others that are suspending sponsorships or, as most of them are, voicing serious complaints about the league's handling of domestic violence cases involving their players, it is becoming a referendum of sorts on the current leadership of the NFL.
Even if very few sponsors actually pack up and leave as P&G more or less has here, I tend to think that their mere questioning of the league, its cultural direction and their ties to it is a signifiant moment which has far more consequences for the NFL if it is handledly more poorly than it already has been.
September 19th, 2014 at 4:59 PM ^
September 19th, 2014 at 11:26 AM ^
September 19th, 2014 at 12:34 PM ^
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September 19th, 2014 at 11:50 AM ^
There are 200K new cases of breast cancer every year. 32K women and men will die from it - 15%. Breast cancer gets abuot $873 million in funding.
There are 215K new cases of prostate cancer every year. 39K men (and no women) will die from it - 19%. $400 million in funding.
Don't hate pink and don't hate the ladies, I'm just saying, WTF man.
We can applaud all the efforts, but it just seems that death from prostate cancer is way more acceptable than death from breast cancer.
So when that organ down south becomes football-sized, you're on your own boys.
September 19th, 2014 at 12:01 PM ^
I make this point about awareness above - but women know to get mammograms. How many men know the numbers/risks/etc and actually get prostate exams/colonoscopies?
Baseball has done awareness work on fathers day. As we've said earlier - follow the money. Sex sells, and that means women's breasts > men's butts.
September 19th, 2014 at 12:19 PM ^
Breast cancer is not even the most fatal cancer in women (that'd be lung cancer and digestive cancers), nor the biggest killer of women in general (that'd be heart disease) but apparently it's the sexiest. Where's the fun in informing women that their heart attack symptoms can be different from the well-known men's symptoms when we can say WEAR PINK AND SAVE TEH BEWBIES instead?
Also, in some good news, it appears that prostate cancer deaths were down to 29k in 2013:
http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@epidemiologysurveilance/docum…;
September 19th, 2014 at 12:52 PM ^
Because the reality is, it's not about declaring war on breast cancer. It's about selling pink crap to people. Breast cancer is just the vehicle they use to sell the crap.
The South Park episode from a year or two ago outlining all of this was brilliant. (Warning like all South Park, it is NSFW)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km5lGr6miXE
September 19th, 2014 at 1:44 PM ^
I was wondering when someone would ask "But what about the men?"
September 19th, 2014 at 1:47 PM ^
I rest my case.
September 19th, 2014 at 4:13 PM ^
Wear a brown ribbon for Prostate cancer. The company catch phrase could saying something like "Keep it up for life." or "Flowing non stop is a right not a privilage." And rather than have a walk we could have a football watching contest for cancer. Take donation per quarter watched on a Saturday.
Things has everything to do with the Komen foundation having a much better PR person.
October 20th, 2014 at 4:55 AM ^
Breast cancer is affecting millions of women. There are several ways to support research and fundraising efforts. Breast cancer donate is a program accepting anything offered as donation, be it your vehicle or a product. It is put as charity auction and the money realized directly goes into breast cancer research, prevention and awareness program.