Israel kicked off an advertising campaign in the United States on Super Bowl weekend to bring attention to the plight of the 136 hostages still in the hands of the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza.
Ahead of Sunday’s big game in Las Vegas between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers, millions of Americans are being exposed to the campaign launched by Israel’s national information system in coordination with the Government Advertising Agency.
The ads are being seen on smart TVs and outdoor signage in large cities, and being heard on a radio broadcast. They are running on the Paramount+ streaming platform, which is airing the live CBS broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII.
In addition, a video will be uploaded highlighting the need for the captives to be released, targeting content and current affairs websites. The video will also be displayed on billboards in Washington and New York and broadcast on sports and current affairs-focused digital radio.
“All the contents of the campaign, according to estimates, will eventually reach tens of millions of exposures throughout the United States, when already in its first days it reached almost 10 million exposures,” the Israeli government said.
30-second Super Bowl ad
The man who helped Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. write the “I Have a Dream” speech will appear in a Super Bowl commercial from the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS).
The organization, founded by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, purchased a 30-second advertisement for the Super Bowl that will include lawyer and speechwriter Clarence B. Jones, who once counseled King. A book chronicling Jones’s life story was published in 2023, Last of the Lions: An African American Journey in Memoir.
FCAS released a video of Kraft calling Jones to inform him of the commercial’s placement during the game. After telling him the news, Jones responded: “You know what? You know how to make a 93-year-old man cry.” Choking up, Jones said, “Martin would have loved you.”
In an interview with USA Today last week, Kraft expressed fear about the state of hate in the country, particularly directed at Jewish people.
“I don’t recognize parts of this nation,” Kraft, who is Jewish, said. “I don’t like where we’re headed. I’m worried about our country right now.
“We’re the greatest country in the world but it’s starting to look like Germany in the 1930s to me…, and I want to prevent us from getting to the 1940s.”
Kraft continued: “Why am I doing the Super Bowl ad? The majority of people in America, who are good people, I think they believe there’s nothing they can do. But there is. What we need is non-Jewish people to stand up to this hate.”
The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism has been running its #StandUpToJewishHate campaign over the last year, with a series of short videos highlighting non-Jews helping Jews in the face of antisemitism.
