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An extensive article from the Huffington Post details some of the "Big Tobacco-style" tactics that the NFL is using in an attempt to indoctrinate children into becoming football fans at a time when the sport has come under controversy over concussions and head injuries in general. These tactics include downplaying the safety issues of the sport to concerned parents, promotion of football as building family values, direct advertising to children through television and online, and the introduction of 'sponsored educational materials' that incorporate football (even just watching it) in the classroom as homework.

The article contends that the motivations of the NFL aren't necessarily to protect an American past-time, but to protect its $12 billion/year financial empire that would be in danger of football became less popular as a sport.

It was an interesting read which is why I'm posting it here, but I couldn't help but wonder at some point while reading...what group isn't trying to indoctrinate children these days so they can make more money? What may have been ghastly a few decades ago with Big Tobacco is pretty much what we call marketing now...a bit of a sad realization of how the world works these days.