State Farm continued its quest to become synonymous with the NBA at the 2022 NBA Draft, replacing the usual jingle for picks with the State Farm jingle.
The NBA Draft, which is already "presented by State Farm," apparently needed to further remind fans who their insurance provider of choice should be.
During the #NBADraft, the "pick is in" bell sound inside the arena will be the @StateFarm jingle 🔔 pic.twitter.com/g3ytWPHp0A
— Sports Business Journal (@SBJ) June 23, 2022
State Farm's hold of the NBA is, in a word, bleak. Even after being inundated by commercials during the playoffs, fans looking to decompress a bit and play NBA 2k walked into... This.
The newest addition to NBA2K22:
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) September 14, 2021
Jake from State Farm 👀
He's the first branded character to ever join the NBA 2K universe. pic.twitter.com/wtmnMOJLzt
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Unsurprisingly, NBA Twitter was almost immediately driven insane by the insidious earworm.
I just threw up
— Donnie Damage (@DonnieDamage) June 23, 2022
If this is an experiment, to see how NBA fans are going to react to new bits of advertising, it doesn't seem to be going great. Perhaps turning every single bit of the NBA into a marketing opportunity is ill-advised, no matter how enticing it may seem to the out-of-touch people making these decisions.
what the hell is this man
— TDK (@ToDaKnicks) June 23, 2022
Bruh the bell is iconic
— MGK RUINED ECSTASY (@mcsbxckup) June 23, 2022
This is horrendous. Everyone and their mother prefers the old sound effect
— Skyline Chili (@DaddyDonteCenzo) June 23, 2022
No. Stick with the duh duh duh duh…duh-duh duh duh duh
— SmarfLife (@SmarfLife) June 23, 2022
Whether or not this is something NBA fans just have to "get used to" a la jersey patches or Kias at every Slam Dunk Contest, the early returns of this decision aren't good.
Only time will tell if it will make its not-so-triumphant return in 2023.
