Believe it or not, not all of America tuned in this weekend to see the Philadelphia Eagles win their first Super Bowl. Many dog lovers turned their attention to Animal Planet, where the Puppy Bowl featured dogs up for adoption playing in a lighthearted football game of sorts.
For those watching in the Tempe, Ariz., area, these dogs had a patriotic message.
Local builder Fulton Homes, No. 82 on the most recent Builder 100 List, placed a local ad to run during the Puppy Bowl that showed puppies standing for the National Anthem and carrying American flags during the football game. Fulton Homes chose not to run a local ad during the Super Bowl this year for the first time in 15 years, and so the Puppy Bowl seemed like a fun alternative, and one that only cost about 10% of a typical Super Bowl commercial.
The Puppy Bowl ad is a continuation of a local campaign that Fulton Homes began during the 2017-2018 NFL season, called “Stand,” which featured football fans standing for the national anthem at home and in sports bars while watching NFL games on television—the builder’s response to the movement started by San Francisco 49ers player Colin Kaepernick (and followed by many other professional players throughout the season) to kneel when the anthem was played to protest racial injustice in our country.
“I love football and we’ve always advertised during football season and during the Super Bowl,” says the company’s CEO Doug Fulton. “But I don’t currently feel comfortable advertising while the players are doing something that I perceive as disrespecting our flag and politicizing the game.”
Fulton Homes had already bought local ad space during last season’s Monday Night Football line up, so the company had to decide how to advertise in a way that supported what it stands for while still acknowledging the right of the players to express their beliefs.
“We were specific not to call out anyone for doing anything wrong or pass judgment—the players have every right to kneel during the anthem, and that’s one of the reasons that we love America,” says Fulton of the “Stand” Campaign. “We just wanted to show the public what we do as a company, which is stand for the national anthem. [The players] are setting their example and we are setting ours.”
“It’s a gutsy thing to do, we’re a business after all,” he adds. “We aren’t intending to make a big political statement, but when it comes to patriotism I believe in standing up for America and that’s important to our company.”
While the Stand campaign did receive some negative backlash on social media, Fulton says the response from customers was positive for the most part. Plus, the company’s closings didn’t take a hit. Fulton says he actually sold almost twice as many homes last year as he did the year prior, possibly due to the fact that a large customer base for the builder consists of veterans.
“We get a lot of VA loans for our homes. Over half of financing comes from VA loans compared to conventional ones,” he says. Fulton also adds that supporting veterans is important to the company. For example, on Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day, the company sells American flags at their model homes, then donates the proceeds, which it also matches, to the Wounded Warriors project.
“Patriotism is what we do at Fulton. We build the American dream and are glad that people can have homeownership,” he says. “We wanted to make a statement that this is what we do and who we are as a company.”
