State Farm issued a statement Monday regarding their partnership with Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
“Aaron Rodgers has been a great ambassador for our company for much of the past decade,” a company spokeswoman said in a statement to USA Today.
“We don’t support some of the statements that he has made, but we respect his right to have his own personal point of view. We recognize our customers, employees, agents and brand ambassadors come from all walks of life, with differing viewpoints on many issues. Our mission at State Farm is to support safer, stronger communities. To that end, we encourage vaccinations, but respect everyone’s right to make a choice based on their personal circumstances.”
The statement comes as State Farm advertisements featuring Rodgers were shown far less often over the weekend than they had in the prior two weekends, according to the Action Network's Darren Rovell.
On Sunday, there were only six State Farm ads that featured Rodgers, per Apex Marketing, which monitors and tracks national media and branding, out of a total of 394. That makes up just 1.5% of all the ads State Farm ran.
Per the Action Network, State Farm ads run on national networks featuring Rodgers made up around 25% of all ads the company ran during Week 7 and Week 8 of the NFL season, according to Apex.
Rodgers did not play in Green Bay's 13–7 loss to Kansas City after testing positive for COVID-19 last week. In an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Friday, he addressed his positive test and being "outed," in his word, for being unvaccinated. In the interview, he spread a number of pieces of misinformation about the virus, and its vaccines.
On Saturday, Prevea Health, a Wisconsin-based health company, ended its nine-year partnership with Rodgers.
"Prevea Health remains deeply committed to protecting its patients, staff, providers and communities amidst the COVID-19 pandemic," Prevea's statement said. "This includes encouraging and helping all eligible populations to become vaccinated against COVID-19 to prevent the virus from further significantly impacting lives and livelihoods."
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