Vengeance Helmet: Should NFL Do Anything?
Marketing things for consumers is a tough gig these days I bet. What with the interwebs and accessibility to tons of information at our fingertips, companies are coming up with any way they can to grab our ADD riddled attention and buy their product. One thing that seems to be falling off the table lately is sensitivity to current events or situations when constructing a marketing scheme. Anyone remember the Super Bowl ad last year from Groupon?
Quite the faux pas on Groupon’s part. And I would say this is par for the course – there are numerous campaigns out there that are head scratchers. Groupon took some egg on their face for that add but didn’t really experience any backlash for it. So what does marketing and Tibet have to do with the NFL?
Well surfing the net this morning netted me an article that reveals the new name of a football helmet manufactured by Schutt sports – the Vengeance Helmet. And the article points out the small conflict of interest with the name of the helmet, the suggestive theme of the helmet and the current progressive movement of player safety – specifically regarding their noggins. What’s even worse than the name of the helmet and its suggestive tone is the slogan that goes with it:
"NFL and college-level football players will soon have the opportunity to face their foes head-on with Vengeance."
Ummm…. ‘head-on’ ???? Wow if that wasn’t ever a poor choice of words and quite irresponsible too. This is coming from a helmet manufacturer. The very nature of a helmet is for protection of the player wearing it…. not a weapon to be used to inflict pain upon another person. Have they been deaf, dumb and blind all at once over the past two seasons of the NFL? Have they not seen and heard of James Harrison – the very poster child of the NFL for public enemy #1 bad guys of inflicting illegal helmet to helmet hits?
Schutt makes other helmets that are worn by NFL players (as the article notes) and is in constant competition with rival company Riddell, the company that has an exclusive contract with the NFL. Riddell gets to put their name on the helmets as a result of that contract, but Schutt cannot. It’s obvious there’s a bit of marketing envy as they have sent numerous letters/requests to the Commish and the NFL asking for cease and desist of falsely advertising Riddell when Shutt helmets are worn. Perhaps that’s why they blatantly try and muscle their way into the college and NFL levels with this not so clandestine way of promoting the helmet as an equalizer… a weapon.
I believe Schutt has put the NFL in a position of necessary reaction to this situation. The article states that the NFL has refrained from commenting for now – probably because Goodell and his minions are scrambling to spin this awful PR. However they spin it, though, I feel that the NFL needs to send a clear message to Schutt that they are absolutely serious about player safety. Rename the helmet, or you will no longer be able to sell ANY of your helmets to NFL players. The NCAA should do the same.
The helmet may indeed be a great advancement in protecting the wearer’s head. But Schutt really screwed up in how this helmet is marketed. I tried to Google Steelers players who wear Schutt and couldn’t find anything. But the Huff Post article states that hundreds of players wear Schutt gear. Maybe they should do something too. Then again, would a player compromise their own safety to speak out against Schutt (if indeed Schutt makes the ‘better’ helmet)? Either way Schutt should be sent a clear message that the NFL will not accept the way it is currently branding its new advancement in helmet ‘technology.’