Taylor Swift showed up in a recent NFL promo, and the internet is up in arms about it.
For months, Taylor Swift has been criticized for the amount of televised screen time she is given when she attends NFL games to cheer for her Kansas City Chiefs tight end boyfriend Travis Kelce. While many people have pointed out that Swift likely dislikes having a camera pointed directly at her face just as much as everyone else, her appearance in a 30 second NFL promo clip has stirred more controversy.
Within two seconds of the video beginning, Swift can be seen shouting her support from her luxury box. Five seconds later, watchers are shown a similar clip of Swift with Donna Kelce, Travis Kelce’s mother. While one mention of Swift might have been acceptable considering fans also get a glimpse of Dolly Parton wearing the famous Dallas Cowboys cheerleader uniform, Swift is then shown a third, fourth and fifth time throughout the promotional advertisement. In fact, Taylor Swift is shown more than any one NFL player (including her boyfriend).
As was typical in the past, the internet was quick to hate on the pop star for simply taking up space somewhere people have decided she doesn’t belong. While it is absolutely telling that much of the anger directed at Swift’s presence has come from men, it isn’t untrue to say that Taylor Swift doesn’t belong in an NFL promo clip. At least, not more than once.
Although it makes sense why the NFL decided to include the pop star in the promo, with ratings skyrocketing amongst women 12 to 49 after Swift and Kelce began dating at the beginning of last football season, other players’ families aren’t being advertised so frequently. While Brittany Mahomes, Patrick Mahomes’ wife, is not a world-famous pop star who is currently in the midst of one of the biggest tours of all time, it doesn’t change the fact that the NFL should be focusing on their players, not their players’ friends and family.
The general argument amongst Swift’s supporters is that the pop star would have had no control over her inclusion in the promo, but this simply can’t be true. Taylor Swift is more than just a name, it’s a brand and a corporation, and there is absolutely no way Swift’s team would have allowed her to be included in said promo without their approval. While perhaps the singer herself didn’t make the final decision on her screen time, it would be naïve to think that the people connected to her didn’t.
Personally, I don’t agree with all the hate Swift is getting over the promo because as the original poster and owner of the content, the NFL should be the ones bearing the brunt of the anger. They created the video, they posted it on their social media and knew what they were doing including Taylor Swift. It was a marketing tactic that benefited them way more than it did her: no one is going to see the singer for the first time in an NFL advertisement and suddenly become a fan. Swift, with a $1.3 billion net worth, is worth way more than any currently working NFL player so it comes as no surprise that the NFL wants to profit off her being a supportive partner to Travis Kelce.
While Swift and her team almost certainly signed off on her inclusion in this controversial promotional advertisement, solely hating on Taylor Swift and not the male-dominated realm of the NFL seems like another example of misogyny at its finest.
