DM Monitoring
NEW YORK: With an estimated 100 million people watching, a 30-second advertisement in support of the farmers’ protest in India was aired Sunday during American “Super Bowl”, the annual championship game of the National Football League which was played this year in Tampa, Florida.
The “Super Bowl” is the biggest and most viewed sporting and television event in the United States.
The video, depicting the Indian farmers’ campaign as the “largest protest in history”, opens with a quote by US civil rights leader Martin Luther King: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” And it features news clips with visuals from the more than two months of protests around New Delhi.
The clip also features a message from Mayor Jerry Dyer of the city of Fresno, California, who says, “We want you to know, our brothers and sisters in India, that we stand with you.”
The video ends with the message “No Farmers, No Food, No Future”, along with the hashtag “#IStandWithFarmers”.
Produced by Tejivideo, a local photography and video production company, the video, has been paid by the Sikh-American Community in Fresno. It was shared online by many Twitter users. According to reports, a 30-second “Super Bowl” advertisement can cost up to $5 million.
“Super Bowl” commercials are high-profile television advertisements known for their cinematic quality. Many of these commercials, specially produced for the “Super Bowl”, also feature celebrity cameos, and most of them go viral on the internet.
India’s farmer protests sparked international interest after tweets drawing attention to the movement by celebrities such as pop star Rihanna, climate activist Greta Thunberg and lawyer and niece of US vice president Kamala Harris, Meena Harris, went viral on Thursday, on Feb. 2.
Since late November 2020, thousands of farmers have been protesting on the outskirts of the Indian capital, blocking roads in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana states. They demand a complete rollback of farm laws enforced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in September 2020.
The farmers, mostly Sikhs from Punjab, believe that the new laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system (MSP), leaving them at the mercy of business tycoons.
