Advocacy Group Launches #GoodellMustGo Ad Blitz Ahead of Super Bowl

Ads addressing domestic violence and the NFL's handling of the issue will be rolled out before and during the Super Bowl

An organization that has campaigned for the dismissal of the NFL's commissioner for his handling of domestic violence cases involving players has a new online ad targeting Roger Goodell ahead of the Super Bowl.

The new 15-second ad from advocacy group UltraViolet features a football player in helmet, pads and other gear tackling a woman. The theme of the ad is "Let's take domestic violence out of football."

The video, part of an online ad buy that the organization said will reach 1 million people, closes with the hashtag #GoodellMustGo and will run Thursday through Super Bowl Sunday. The group used the same hashtag on banners it flew over NFL games earlier this year.

"It is clear that Roger Goodell’s NFL took no initiative to prosecute domestic abusers and protect their victims and it is clear that the NFL will not take domestic violence seriously until Roger Goodell is gone," UltraViolet co-founder Shaunna Thomas said in a statement.

It's not the only ad addressing the domestic violence issue and the NFL's handling of the high-profile case last year involving former Ravens running back Ray Rice. NoMore.org, a coalition of corporations, advocacy and service organizations behind ads featuring well-known athletes, has a Super Bowl ad that depicts a 911 domestic violence call.

A 30-second version of the ad will be broadcast during the first quarter of the Super Bowl Sunday.

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The ads come just weeks after the release of a report from former FBI director Robert Mueller that stated there was no evidence the league received a video of Rice striking his then-fiancee in a casino elevator. But the report said the NFL failed to investigate the case properly and should have done more with the information it did have.

The video was published online in September, leading to calls for further punishment of Rice after the league initially handed down a two-game suspension. The league handed down an indefinite suspension after the elevator video surfaced.

In November, Rice won an appeal of the indefinite suspension. A judge called Goodell's decision "arbitrary" and an "abuse of direction."

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