An interesting parallel in the media’s coverage of current events has presented itself. I am not taking sides, merely making an observation.
By now, pretty much everyone knows that in the wake of the Tucson tragedy the Hatfields and McCoys are at it again, louder than ever. At the center of it -- whether intentionally hurtful words can have dire consequences or if they just a part of the game? The essence of free speech.
Some may know that in the past few years, the NFL has seen a rash of serious head and neck injures. Those suspected of causing those injuries possibly through the techniques the employ will tell you they don’t want to injure anyone but they want to hurt everyone. The essence of football.
In both cases the alleged perpetrators hold up their hands maintaining their innocence.
In both cases the argument is made that getting rough is part of the game. It’s terrible that bad things happen to good people/players, but that doesn’t mean some inflammatory language or tackling hard are to blame.
We tell clients to approach their marketing and advertising from the perspective of that if they don't stand out, they lose. You can’t play it safe or be conservative because there’s lots of people/companies willing to do anything to be found by their customers.
What politicians and football stars share in common is their quest to cut through the clutter -- to be noticed by their fans and thus compensated/rewarded either financially or with re-election. In both cases their goal is to end up on their profession’s daily “highlight reel” whether that’s ESPN’s Sport Center or CNN/Fox News’ evening news.
One of the ancillary conversations stemming from Tucson is whether to blame the media and/or the players, or if there's no blame at all. It’s unrealistic to expect the players to change their ways but maybe it's time to ask the people at CNN, Fox News and ESPN simply to choose different highlights. Rather than constantly celebrating the big hit or the nasty soundbite, how about recognizing the immense effort, the great idea or the stunningly graceful attempt?
