The Super Bowl is advertising's "biggest stage," but the game is becoming "increasingly political for brands," according to sources cited by Nat Ives of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Sources said that some people are calling the presence of advertisers as a "sign of support" for how the NFL handled Colin Kaepernick's protest against racial injustice. Actress Amy Schumer earlier this month declined to appear in any Super Bowl ads in support of Kaepernick, writing on Instagram, "I personally told my reps I wouldn't do a Super Bowl commercial this year. Hitting the nfl with the advertisers is the only way to really hurt them." Schumer has "appeared in one Super Bowl ad," a Bud Light spot in '16. Consultancy firm TwentyFirstCenturyBrand co-Founder & CEO Jonathan Mildenhall said that advertising in the Super Bowl is "likely to become more fraught, even for brands and ads that don't try to take stands." Marketing consulting firm Metaforce co-Founder Allen Adamson: "There will be some that will follow Amy and say we're not going to advertise on the Super Bowl because we don't approve of the NFL's behavior. But the challenge for most is that there are incredibly few opportunities to reach as many people in as powerful a way as the Super Bowl" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/25).
