UFC is one sports organization that could benefit from adopting an anti-bullying campaign

BY JOE FAVORITO

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

ON N.J. SPORTS MARKETING

Recently, the New Jersey legislature passed a bill that enacts the toughest anti-bullying law in the country. Much of the buzz in New Jersey was because of the tragic death of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi last year, who committed suicide after his roommate and another student posted videos of Clementi with another male. It was a strong move for the state regardless of who is being bullied and for whatever reason, and opens the door for teams or organizations like the UFC who play in the state and in the area, to step up public service in support of the bill and the movement.

There is certainly a great deal of good will that is generated from cause marketing, as well as dollars and attention. Even those which seem at first to be a stretch — the pink of the NFL for October for example — makes great sense when one realizes the depth and scope of the way cancer of any form impacts millions of lives, and the attention that can be brought to the disease, or any cause, through the power of sport.

Therefore, it should come as a surprise that an issue that continues to rise to crisis proportions among young people — bullying — still really has not been embraced by a team or large group of athletes or a property. Maybe because elite athletes accept some form of intimidation as part of the game, and that they have been able to overcome and succeed by taking on that intimidation, mental, physical or emotional, that there is a disconnect. Maybe it's because at some level bullying is part of athletic success. However, that is all the more reason for athletics and athletic marketing to find ways to effectively and publicly address a bullying issue with the highest of stars in sport, and use them as role models to show that bullying is not acceptable to those with whom they can influence. Bullying is not as tangible as a disease on any level, and addressing it cannot see the same physical results as one will see with a campaign to fight childhood obesity like "Let's Move" is doing with First Lady Michelle Obama and her team. However, it is an embraceable cause, and one, which can actually lead to exposing the value of sport to an audience that may not have accepted or enjoyed sports as a whole because those people were not good enough to play. Embracing an anti-bullying platform would go a long way in a new area for cause marketing, and could help heal some very public and very silent wounds for millions of young people effected by it every day.

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Maybe the issue is too controversial to take on and justify, but it is needed. The Philadelphia Flyers and their rough and tumble "Broad Street Bullies" past, certainly don't lend themselves to such a campaign. The New Jersey Nets at their best, as well as the New York Knicks, were known as tough, hardscrabble teams. And we are a state that became infamous for abusive Little League parents, perhaps more than anywhere else. Therein lies not the problem, but actually the opportunity. The ability to turn all those elements around and make New Jersey and the teams in the state into role models showing that toughness and teamwork are in, but taunting and added violence are not.

One group that has tried to make inroads toward the positive is The Insightful Player. The Insightful Player recognizes current and former NFL players who are persons of integrity, all who share the common goal of spreading their personal message of hope, for the sole purpose of lifting the spirits of all, particularly children. The Insightful Player team members are individuals that believed in themselves and relentlessly pursued their most far-reaching dreams, which resulted in a career in the National Football League. The InsightfulPlayer.com website features the inspirational stories of 30 current and former NFL players, each of whom overcame great obstacles and hardships to become not just fine athletes, but through their values and their life experiences, became extraordinary individuals that serve as an inspiration to us all.

Maybe even a property like the UFC, which just recently announced the return to the Prudential Center this spring, can find a creative way to take on the topic and speak right to the demo that is most effected, teens and young people. It would be cutting edge and novel and could be a great help to millions who are getting support through academics and others but not yet in sport. A worthwhile cause, and one, which can help, avert unspeakable and unneeded tragedy at a time when the nation is coming to grips with another tragedy, the senseless slayings that took place in Tucson over the weekend.

Anti-bullying. A good cause that could use a nice pop from the business of sports — and the brands that support it.

Joe Favorito has over 24 years of strategic communications/marketing, business development and public relations expertise in sports, entertainment, brand building, media training, television, athletic administration and business. Visit him at JoeFavorito.com.