Hey, the NFL seems to be getting a bit of a bad name again, what with domestic violence, shootings, drunk driving deaths, concussions, etc. People are even asking if they should allow their children to play football due to safety issues. So how can the NFL reach out to children and parents to make the game seem all soft and cuddly again? Why, how about employing a famous children’s TV character as an emissary? And who better to use than Mr. Snuffleupagus? He’s always nice and benign, right? So dress him up as a big football fan, with a helmet and team swag and stuff, and everything will seem all sweet and innocent again!
And, just to prove what a rabid football fan Mr. Snuffleupagus is, he could change his name to Mr. NFLupagus (pronounced phonetically, like: “nuffleupagus”, not “enefelupagus”. But perhaps a real elephant could become an enefelephant {spelled: NFLephant} in another promo. And maybe the two could play exhibition one-on-one football games to demonstrate the safety of the sport, or perhaps with Big Bird and Bear in the Big Blue House playing with them as their quarterback or something.) for the campaign. Now wouldn’t you let your kids play football if they did that? How could anyone get injured or misbehave with Mr. Snuffleupagus as Mr. NFLupagus looking out for them?
Although, considering what just happened with Elmo, maybe this is a questionable strategy? Which is a shame, because it would have been so easy to re-brand Elmo as NFLmo, if only that hadn’t happened. But you know, maybe if they use NFLmo, perhaps parents will be so worried about other concerns, they will forget all about the potential dangers of football.
