By TODD STACY, Alabama Daily News
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – If you tuned into Sunday Night Football’s matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears, you may have noticed something different in the commercial breaks: An advertisement featuring familiar landmarks and discussing criminal justice issues close to home.
The Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice is partnering with the National Football League for a series of December advertisements highlighting their joint work to free victims of wrongful punishment from Alabama jails.
Narrated by linebacker Trey Flowers of the Detroit Lions, the commercial features Motis Wright, who was originally sentenced to die in prison under Alabama’s Habitual Felony Offender Act for a 1994 robbery conviction and was released in May of 2021 after Appleseed took him on as a client.
“I was sentenced to die for a $28 robbery,” Wright says into the camera in his hometown of Selma. “But change is coming.”
The ad campaign is the result of an NFL grant through the Inspire Change Initiative, through which Appleseed was selected by a group of players and team owners. The commercial, produced by the NFL’s agency of record 72andSunny, was filmed in Selma and features landmarks such as the Edmund Pettus Bridge that are significant in Alabama’s Civil Rights history.
“This spot beautifully weaves together the issues that Appleseed is confronting in Alabama,” said Carla Crowder, Alabama Appleseed’s executive director. “It’s urgent, thought-provoking, and hopeful. We are incredibly honored that the NFL chose to provide our small nonprofit a national audience.”
See the ad in full HERE: