Aaron Rodgers has faced a great deal of criticism over the past week for his thoughts on COVID-19 vaccination, and it is fair to wonder if there will be financial backlash as well.
According to Darren Rovell of Action Network, data shows that Rodgers’ most prominent sponsor, State Farm, may have dramatically reduced the amount of commercials featuring the Green Bay Packers star over the weekend. Apex Monitoring, which tracks national media and branding, found that State Farm ads featuring Rodgers made up roughly 25 percent of the ads run by the company on Sunday, Oct. 24 and Sunday, Oct. 31. That number dropped to below 2 percent this past Sunday.
The data shows that a total of 394 national State Farm ads were run on Sunday. Of those, only six — or 1.5 percent — featured Rodgers. Apex president Eric Smallwood explained why he believes the decrease was a reaction to negative news surrounding Rodgers.
“It appears that State Farm has reduced the number of national spots, dropping off considerably as of Friday,” Smallwood said. “Our monitoring indicates that this wasn’t a planned reduction and more reactionary because there wasn’t any new significant ads put in its place.”
The dip almost certainly is not a coincidence. Rodgers has been accused of misleading people about his vaccination status. He said over the summer that he was “immunized,” which most took to mean he has received the COVID vaccine. However, the 37-year-old was referring to a homeopathic treatment he underwent.
Rodgers, who tested positive for COVID on Wednesday, spoke out against the “woke mob” during an appearance “The Pat McAfee Show.” He was highly critical of the media and said health is a personal choice. Many have taken him to task over that and admitting to violating some of the NFL’s COVID protocols. In fact, he may have violated those protocols by filming a commercial for State Farm.
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