Kobe Bryant's Call Of Duty Ad: Would Controversy Be Same For Other Stars?
I did this after reading an article by Tim Keown criticizing Kobe for it as he wrote it to make it seem like Kobe was promoting street violence, as well as Skip "Clueless" Bayless' criticisms of it where he called for David Stern to fine or suspend Kobe for appearing in the ad and his interpretation of it minimizing what our troops overseas have to really go through.
I pointed out how wrong they both were and how right Kobe was, and after that, a slew of articles touching on the same things came about.
Now I'm wondering though, what if it were some other sports stars that appeared in it? What would the reaction be?
Let's take a look.
The Ad That Made So Much Noise To Begin With
1 of 11Here's the ad itself. Notice that all you see are fires and explosions, not a single dead body anywhere. I think this shows that it is an ad for, um, A FREAKING VIDEO GAME!
And again, how come there's no controversy over Jimmy Kimmel's appearance?ย
What If It Was Steve Nash?
2 of 11
Somehow I don't think the reaction would've been the same if Steve Nash were in Kobe's place. I'm sure you know what I mean by that.
Exactly what I said in my article yesterday. I don't think this makes any noise. Nash wouldn't get this type of backlash because he's been very non-controversial throughout his career and isn't really looked at as a polarizing figure in the same vein that Kobe is.
There is that other issue though, I'm sure you can tell what it is.
What If It Was Gilbert Arenas
3 of 11I wouldn't even defend him.
Not because of the ad itself, but because of the lack of judgement.ย
If you have had issues in the past with guns, not a good idea to show up in an ad where you're, um, firing a freaking gun!
Good thing he was never approached to shoot the ad, pun intended.
What If It Was Peyton Manning?
4 of 11
In one of the comments someone brought up Peyton Manning. If anything his would've been a little bit more entertaining.
The reason being because he would've instead be throwing grenades, however he'd make some audibles first and try to direct the other "soldiers" to do something else prior to throwing the grenade.
As for the backlash? Again, minimal to almost nothing.
What If It Was Tim Duncan?
5 of 11
Believe it or not, I'd say with Duncan it would be similar to Peyton.
Little to no backlash. We probably wouldn't even notice him.
What If It Was Justin Bieber?
6 of 11
I had to throw him in there since he apparently is a pretty big star.
I'd be defending him too, sixteen year olds play video games.
But others would probably talk about how "he's just a child, he should be a role model!"ย
Instead of just Skip Bayless railing against this, we'd get Oprah railing against it.
What If It Was Dirk Nowitzki?
7 of 11
Here's a case where I could see a bigger backlash than Kobe.
We don't like to admit it, but there's a small bit of xenophobia in us.
So the image of a big German dude carrying an assault rifle, well, that wouldn't look too good when you really think about it and really think about the past.
What If It Was Joe Girardi and Mariano Rivera?
8 of 11It would play out like this Taco Bell commercial.
Everyone would be outraged, not by the promotion of violence, but because we'd get sick of it just as quickly.
What If It Was Shaq?
9 of 11If this ad were made 10 years ago, it would be.
Shaq has a history with "violent" video games. "Shaq Fu" was semi-violent back in its day. Sure there was no blood and no guts, but it was violent because it incited violence in anyone who wasted their money on this piece of crap game.
And it is a fighting game, in one level he fights against a woman, very un-PC.
As for if Shaq appeared in the "Black Ops" ad? Well if Kobe were still in it, then it would actually be pretty funny and we're just laughing at it.
If Shaq does it solo, no one says anything. I mean the guy has burned bridges in Orlando, LA, Miami, and even Phoenix yet doesn't seem to be as polarizing to fans as Kobe, LeBron or other stars.
Well, unless you talk to Lakers and Heat fans, they both justifiably hate him.
What If It Was Sarah Palin?
10 of 11Fox News would defend her because she's Sarah Palin.
MSNBC would admonish her because she's Sarah Palin.
Odds are, you wouldn't care, because she's Sarah Palin.
What If It Was LeBron?
11 of 11
Here's a good comparison. If its LeBron, the noise is a lot worse! The guy is at a point where he'll be criticized for anything. Every little thing and word is scruitenized, meaning he has to watch what he says (so far a fail) and has to watch what he does and how he acts. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if he was initially approaced to do the ad and he declined it knowing the possible backlash.
In fact, if it was LeBron, probably only myself and a few other Heat fans would've come to his defense. He's that hated.
Which in the end probably explains why Kobe was in the ad instead of LeBron to begin with.ย
But overall, I'll reiterate how stupid this issue is and has been. It got a story and a slideshow out of me, but its sad that myself or anyone else has to write a story coming to Kobe or anyone's defense for what was an innocent commercial that did not show blood, dead bodies, or anyone getting injured and showed nothing but fires and explosions.ย
Kobe Bryant doesn't need money, he probably did the ad because he's a fan of the game. Many pro athletes are. Who knows, after his games he probably goes home and plays a couple of levels to unwind, giving him something in common with me, with you, with many other NBA players, and many kids who look up to him.ย
Instead of criticizing someone for doing something thats fun, there are other things to look at with what's wrong in this world, even in sports.ย
I'm not alone in wishing that the press would focus more on those pressing issues than on a professional athlete who did nothing more than lend his star presence to a video game commercial and actually looked like he had fun doing it.
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