“Do the Things You’re Gonna Do on Game Day, Just Don’t Get Hurt”: A Narrative Analysis of the NFL’s “Future of Football” Advertising Campaign

ABSTRACT

This study explores the NFL’s “Future of Football” advertising campaign as a narrative strategy embedded within the league’s tradition focused on brand control. Using narrative and thematic analyses, 17 broadcast advertisements that aired from 2016–2019 are examined to investigate the league’s re-implementation of media messaging to position itself as a leader on safety. Findings indicate a narrativization of the NFL as a bastion of scientific discovery aimed at improving the safety of football, whereby science is manipulated under the guise of technology and innovation (e.g., new helmets and equipment), and player agency is orchestrated to parrot the NFL’s brand messaging.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Travis R. Bell

Travis R. Bell (Ph.D., University of South Florida) is an Associate Professor of Digital and Sports Media in the Zimmerman School of Advertising & Mass Communications at the University of South Florida. His research focuses on media and its intersection with gender, health, race, and sport.

Janelle Applequist

Janelle Applequist (Ph.D., Penn State University) is an Associate Professor of Advertising and Public Relations in the Zimmerman School of Advertising & Mass Communications at the University of South Florida. Her research emphasizes health communication, advertising, and issues of representation related to patients and health care in pharmaceutical advertisements.