For those who have been living deep off the grid the past few weeks, you may have missed that Travis Kelce is having a moment. Since news of his rumored relationship with Taylor Swift broke, he has gained a powerful new following of Swifties. His jersey sales have spiked more than 400%, he has gained more than 860,000 new Instagram followers, and he appears to have obtained a slew of new endorsement deals — he was in what felt like almost every commercial during NBC's Sunday Night Football telecast of the Chiefs versus the Jets.
One of those commercials was an amusing “two things at once” Pfizer ad in which Kelce endorsed getting vaccinated against both Covid-19 and the flu at the same time. He also imagines himself doing a much goofier set of “two things at once” in a series of inspired set pieces — until his mom Donna Kelce pops in as he's showing off his two championship rings to remind him that this doesn't qualify as an example of doing two things at once. Kelce, bubble burst, whines “Mom!” but then is shown proudly pulling up his sleeve to reveal two bandages on his newly vaccinated arm.
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The bold, clear-cut and confident ad stands in stark contrast to Aaron Rodgers' misinformation-fueled stance on the Covid-19 vaccine that he came under fire for during the 2021 NFL season. Rodgers lied to his team, a group of journalists and the general public that year when he told a reporter that he was “immunized” against Covid-19 — and then it was later uncovered when Rodgers contracted Covid-19 that he never actually got the vaccine at all. Further, Rodgers frequently gave shout-outs during this time to his buddy Joe Rogan, whose podcast The Joe Rogan Experience regularly spread anti-science (and anti-fact) misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccine.
Rodgers also told his other media pal Pat McAfee after that season “I don't want to be a politicized person. I don't want my views bolstering the anti-vaxxers and triggering the vaxxed people. I want to be somebody who has an opinion, who shares it, who does research, but who is also open to hearing both sides.”
Now, in light of Travis Kelce's clear stance on being pro-vaccination, and despite both NFL superstars flaunting nearly identical mustaches on the sidelines last night, it begs the question — is Travis Kelce the anti-Aaron Rodgers? He didn't cowardly waffle around a controversial topic, he unabashedly took a stance. He endorsed science, public health and the greater good, and did it in a light-hearted way that felt in keeping with his persona, not in the holier-than-thou style of the misleading Aaron Rodgers.
In doing so, Travis Kelce continues to add to his ever-expanding fan base — which now includes not just the army of Swifties, but the public health community and fans of science in general as well.
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