The sad thing is the spot didn’t even work. A group of idiots caused some trouble near Staples Center, setting fires, looting businesses and causing mayhem that resulted in nearly two dozen arrests.
Hey, at least they didn’t torch police cars like they did during the last Lakers title celebration in 2000.
Most of the individuals whom the commercial was targeted probably didn’t even see it. If they did, I’m sure rowdy Lakers fan would have momentarily stopped drinking his 16th beer and come to a stunning revelation: “I was gonna start rioting, but Kobe told me to chill out, so that’s what I’ll do.”
It reminded me of the television spots that always run close to New Years reminding people not to discharge firearms into the air at midnight.
It just floors me that we need commercials to tell us not to do bad things. What’s next?; commercials telling us not to put our cats in the microwave, or not to stick our heads in the oven when the pilot light is off — or on, for that matter — or not to jump off a high-rise building.
Society, please protect us from ourselves.
In the sports genre there are a great deal of things that we shouldn’t have to be subjected to. There are sights, sounds and ideas that are often shameful, a distraction or just plain stupid.
The way some athletes speak can be a combination of the three. Granted, not every athlete has the benefit of a Harvard education, but just to be able to speak in a manner we can understand should be a basic requirement.
