14 DAY TRIAL // For the first time ever, the Super Bowl will include a PSA on domestic violence: the ad was paid for by the National Football League, which also donated the airtime for the 30-second short version.
The extended version is available below.
With 30 seconds of airtime going for about $4 million (€3.52 million), the gesture on behalf of the NFL is an admirable one, but then again, they do have their own sins to account for.
The PSA is the result of a collaboration with No More, a group dealing with fighting domestic violence and sexual assault, in the aftermath of the domestic abuse scandals around Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice.
The video doesn’t include any kind of imagery of domestic violence, focusing solely on exposing scenes from a woman’s home, with visible signs of struggle. A woman’s voice is heard calling 911 to order a pizza, and the operator finally understands that she’s only placing this call because she’s in a room with someone who’s hurting her and she can’t talk.
“When it’s hard to talk, it’s up to us to listen,” the tagline says. The ad is actually inspired by a real and very recent case.
“We hope this No More PSA will bring Americans together – on a day families and friends spend together – in the effort to end domestic violence and sexual assault,” No More Director Virginia Witt says.
