Darren Rovell/TwitterThe NFL and Nike combined on Thursday night to bring “Color Rush” to American football, and the marketing campaign went down like a lead balloon as some sufferers of colourblindness could not tell the sides apart .
The concept behind the promotion was to have teams take the field in unicolour kits, with jersey, pants and socks all using the same base.
What the league failed to account for was that the combination of one team all in green, one all in red, meant that to fans with red-green colourblindness the teams were virtually indistinguishable.
Here is how the teams appeared to colourblind viewers on tv.
Well there is virtually no point in watching that.
Needless to say social media was soon full of neglected fans pointing out the massive cock up.
This matchup is a color blind person’s nightmare. Teams are blending together.
— Gregg Rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) November 13, 2015
YO @NFL for those of us who are red/green #colorblind, the @nyjets and @buffalobills uniforms tonight look identical. #comeon
— Eamon Flood (@EamonFlood) November 13, 2015
Thanks @NFL for putting @nyjets in all green and @buffalobills in all red! Us color blind dudes can just guess whose blocking and tackling
— Coach Arnold Jr (@stontheready) November 13, 2015
I'm red & green color blind and literally can't tell the difference between the @nyjets and @buffalobills ? #thursdaynightfootball @NFL
— Adam (@AdamRoylance) November 13, 2015
Thanks to these stupid uniforms & my red-green color blindness, I literally can't tell the #Jets & #Bills apart tonight
— Matthew Cerrone (@matthewcerrone) November 13, 2015
League spokesman Brian McCarthy has responded to the issue, but suggested the solution may not necessarily be immediate.
An email to the Associated Press read:
The standard television test did not account for colorblindness for fans at home that became apparent last night. We will enhance our testing to include a colorblindness analysis to better address this issue in the future.”
The NFL ladies and gentleman, as proactive as ever.
