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Dick’s Sporting Goods has launched a new initiative “aimed at preventing concussions in student athletes and, when they occur, treating them properly,” according to Andrew Adam Newman of the N.Y. TIMES. In a new commercial for the sporting goods chain, former NFLer Jerome Bettis picks up a football helmet and says, “You wouldn’t get on the field without this -- and you shouldn’t get on the field without a baseline concussion test either.” Such tests are “at the heart of a new initiative” called Protecting Athletes through Concussion Education, or PACE. Dick’s “will pay for schoolwide neurocognitive testing of athletes across more than 3,300 schools, totaling more than a million students.” The commercial closes with Bettis saying, “Let’s bench concussions with the help of Dick’s Sporting Goods.” The spot was produced in-house and is scheduled to begin running today. Dick’s Senior VP & CMO Lauren Hobart said, “You can see this topic of concussions all over the news, and it’s an enormous issue for athletes.” Through the campaign, which also “includes digital advertising, online-only videos, and social-network marketing, Dick’s pledges $1 to PACE every time consumers buy a pair of shoes at one of the retailer’s 449 stores or online.” Bettis and USA women’s national soccer team D Ali Krieger are “appearing at Dick’s locations across the country throughout August at concussion-awareness events” (
N.Y. TIMES, 8/15).
