• by P.J. Bednarski  @pjbtweet, February 4, 2019

Corporate America likes to use Super Bowl ads to show the world it’s full of compassion and selflessness. Sometimes that’s the message that gets across. Sometimes it doesn’t.

Verizon saluted heroic first responders in a two-week campaign called “The Team That Wouldn’t Be There,” featuring the real-life stories of 12 NFL stars who nearly died after accidents and the first responders who saved them.

One of the stories aired as a 60-second commercial during the Super Bowl, telling the harrowing story of Los Angeles Chargers football coach Anthony Lynn. Emergency responders and paramedics saved him from dying after he was involved in a serious car accident in 2005.

The other stories will be told in a full-length documentary airing tonight at 9 on the CBS Sports channel.

But Verizon critics are saying that before wrapping itself up so tightly with the mission of first responders, the wireless operator deserves to own some blame for the way it acted toward firefighters during the California wildfires last year.

Santa Clara County officials complained that Verizon throttled the data speed of first responders trying to communicate as they braved the flames.

Gigi Sohn, a counselor to former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler, charges that because of the collapse of net neutrality rules under the Trump-era FCC, the firefighters were free to be gouged by Verizon for cell service, even in that emergency.

"Basically Verizon said if you pay us double of what we've been paying before, we'll stop throttling you," she told the politics website HIll.TV today.
"The fire department had no place to go, and that's what's really important here."  

Verizon admitted that happened, but says it was a great big goof. “We made a mistake in failing to follow our own practice to waive data restrictions when the issue first came up,” Verizon said in a response to the Hill story.

And Verizon notes the Santa Clara incident had nothing to do with the FCC’s decision to lift net neutrality rules.  

“Once we learned of our mistake, we took steps to ensure that, regardless of the plan they're on, first responders will not encounter data restrictions during times of a declared emergency. In addition, we introduced a new plan for first responders that does not include restrictions," Verizon spokesman Richard Young told the website.

Meanwhile, tonight's documentary is tough to watch at the beginning because of the accidents, but happy at the end because of the survivors.

Verizon does seem to be making efforts to clean up its reputation with some first responders, administrators, and Californians. The wireless operator started a website that shows each of the NFL players’ stories. Through Feb. 8, for each visitor who passes it on using the hashtag #AllOurThanks  on social media, Verizon will donate $1, up to $1.5 million, to the Gary Sinise Foundation’s First Responder Outreach Program.