CFL wants world to know that Diversity is Strength
Campaign launches early amid Charlottesville aftermath
In the wake of the weekend’s events in Charlottesville, Va., the Canadian Football League has taken a united stance to send what it calls a “not so subtle message.”
Its new “Diversity is Strength” campaign was moved up from a planned fall launch as part of the CFL’s Canada 150 celebrations after the league and its alumni association decided to expedite its release.
It started in an off-season meeting between marketing vice-president Christina Litz, communications director Paulo Senra and licensing consultant Jim Neish, when the league created the idea for a lateseason T-shirt that “paid respect to the progressive history of the CFL.”
It was Litz’s idea, spawned from listening to the news in her car on Saturday, that prompted the beginning of discussions with other senior staff — including commissioner Randy Ambrose — to launch the campaign early.
By the time Sunday’s Week 8 finale between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and B.C. Lions rolled around, CFL social media manager Max Rosenberg had agreed to change his flights to get to the game early and distribute the shirts, which Litz delivered to him with her kids early that morning in a sprint from Toronto to Hamilton.
The shirts, which read “Diversity is Strength” on the front and featured the names of 32 different players from its history (past and present) on the back, were then worn by players and staff on both teams.
In a league whose athletes are majority-American, the violence in Charlottesville hit close to home.
“I see the diversity and the acceptance of the people here, and me, coming from the USA, facing the aggressiveness and inequality I have in my own country, that is being perpetuated by the president and the politicians, who are saying America is the greatest country, and it’s a lie,” said Toronto Argonauts defensive back and Memphis, Tenn.-native Cassius Vaughn on Monday.
In 2015, 64 per cent of the league’s players attended schools in the U.S. while more than 55 per cent were born there, according to data.
The CFL isn’t alone in its anti-hate activism in the sports world.
On the weekend, the Detroit Red Wings promised to explore “every possible legal action” associated with the use of its logo by the Detroit Right Wings, a group who plastered it to their shields in Charlottesville. Others, including LeBron James, took to Twitter to voice their opposition. With files from Mark Zwolinski