Friday, February 07, 2025
Elder of ZiyonThe New York Post reports:
Jewish activists slammed billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft for bankrolling a Super Bowl commercial against hatred – because it fails to mention the rise in antisemitism.Kraft, who launched the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism in 2019, paid an estimated $8 million for the 30-second spot, named “No Reason to Hate,” which will air during Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.It features former Pats great Tom Brady and rapper Snoop Dogg, who trade increasingly spiteful digs.However, the duo avoid touching on the bias faced by any specific groups, leading Jewish activists to claim Kraft fumbled the opportunity to highlight the spike in antisemitism since Hamas terrorists killed more than 1,200 in Israel on Oct. 7, 2003.
“Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism is afraid to say the word antisemitism. He all-lives-mattered it,” Samantha Ettus, a Jewish activist, told The Post on Wednesday.
“Imagine a foundation to combat Asian hate running a Super Bowl ad without Asians and without mentioning Asians.”
Here it is:
I mostly disagree with the criticism.
If the ad had been specifically against antisemitism, it would be attacked by the antisemites (and the antisemites who call themselves anti-Zionists.) They would complain about how Jews have so much money to spend on a Super Bowl ad to make it all about them. The haters would get press coverage from a media that is trying to find new Super Bowl stories. They would immediately say that the ad is meant to distract from Israeli actions in Gaza. Within a few days, the ad would be called "controversial" as if hating Jews is a reasonable opinion.
It would very possibly backfire. And we know this because we know how Israel haters work. - make a lot of noise, pretend they are bigger than they are, and let the media do their job for them.
The Super Bowl is not the proper venue for a specific ad against antisemitism. The "all lives matter" message is clear enough in this case since the name of the organization sponsoring it, Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, is pretty prominent at the end. It is on the screen for four seconds, a pretty long time for an ad. In fact, that is the longest scene in the video..
This can actually be more effective. The viewer sees an ad about how stupid hate is - and then sees that antisemitism is one of those kinds of hate. Forcing the viewer to put those two together makes the viewer more emotionally invested in the ad. (This is a standard technique of headline writers and advertisers - making things a little less obvious so the target audience becomes a partner in the message by figuring it out.)
One thing does bother me. When you go to the website on the screen, "StandUpToAllHate.org," it brings you to a page that does not mention antisemitism or Jews at all. That is exactly where you want the viewers who bother to go to the website to get the intended message, yet that site is a generic "all lives matter" page. That is the place where the circle between all hate and antisemitism should be closed.
Last year's similar ad did specify hate against Jews along with all hate. It was also a good ad.
But that didn't stop The Nation from criticizing it - before even seeing it - as a transparent ploy to distract the world from Gaza.
A lot of work needs to be done, at all levels, to combat antisemitism. A Super Bowl ad that only alludes to Jew-hatred should not be looked at in a vacuum but it should be part of a much larger effort.
In the end, an ad will do little, but it can make people think. When the ad does the thinking for the viewers, they don't remember it.
You missed the biggest problem with the Ad. This is the Ad that should have been run. pic.twitter.com/MalXge3kiq
— Jay Lampert (@MortChristenson) February 7, 2025
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"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024) PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022) |
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