Whether one supports the position that the National Football League does as much as possible or as little as is necessary to combat serious head injury and concussion on the field, it is laudable that the league gave its sixty seconds of free advertising time, a time slot worth approximately $ 7 Million dollars, to address the issue of player health and safety. Even the critics of the NFL will have to admit that instead of glorifying themselves and their product, “stepping up” to showcase what is perhaps the most controversial medical and legal issue in the public’s consciousness was a step forward. The well done commercial and new accompanying website utilized eye-catching techniques to demonstrate the evolution of both equipment and rules changes that have led to enhanced player safety.
 |
The Super Bowl commercials are very much a singular entity to many, the sole reason to watch the biggest of games. Super Bowl commercials have become industry icons and as famous as the actual games in some instances. Even casual fans “know” the Coca Cola commercial featuring Joe Greene and his famous jersey toss to an adoring young fan. For the NFL to utilize the majority of air time allocated for their own media aggrandizement on such a “hot button” issue is significant.
 |
The staff at Helmet Hut was alerted to the commercial long before it aired immediately following the third quarter of Super Bowl XLVI. The NFL and the commercial’s producers wanted authenticity and an awareness of what constituted “the right things.” Without being boastful, Helmet Hut has through the years, provided the accurate authentic reproductions of suspension era helmets for movies, print ads, and research purposes. We are careful and try to provide the proper and correct materials in every step of the production process. We are as complete as we can be in our research relative to helmet color, logo design, and striping.
 |
For this commercial that rapidly traced the evolution of pro football from Canton, Ohio after the turn of the century, through the leather helmet era, and then featured the acting recreations of past greats Ollie Matson and Gale Sayers with an accompanying cast of “support players,” for the purposes of providing the potent message the NFL wanted to carry to its fans and observers, the helmets were as if they were holdovers from the exact games depicted. As always, it was our pleasure to provide a service, especially one that brings attention to the important issue of player safety and the ongoing evolution of equipment and alterations in the rules that could further serve that purpose. Certainly there is a thrill for us that love the equipment of the past to view the distinctive Philadelphia Eagles helmet worn by Pete Pihos and his contemporaries as well as the ones that were aforementioned but it truly is our hope, just as it is of the NFL, that this ground breaking commercial will help the efforts of all involved in the game, to continue that evolution.
 |