LOS ANGELES — Think Super Bowl advertising, and outrageously expensive TV commercials come to mind. But a series of billboards debuting around Los Angeles Friday is likely to draw some eyeballs.

Former NFL quarterback and current civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick will be starring in a series of billboards over Game Day weekend that ask the public to challenge law enforcement budgets.

What You Need To Know

  • Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is featured in a series of billboards around LA this Super Bowl weekend

  • The ads are part of a Ben & Jerry's campaign to promote Kaepernick's Change the Whirled non-dairy frozen dessert

  • The campaign calls attention to law enforcement funding and asks, "Imagine if we invested in our communities?"

  • Running for three days, the campaign includes a traditional billboard, a digital billboard and mobile billboards driving around SoFi Stadium

A billboard above West Century Blvd. at the 405 Freeway says, “If U.S. law enforcement were a country, it would have the 3rd largest military budget on the planet at $205,000,000,000.”

Another digital billboard at Figueroa Avenue and 7th Street in downtown LA asks, “Imagine if we invested in our communities?”

Multiple roaming billboards driving around SoFi Stadium this weekend also spell out the message: “California spends over $100,000 per year to incarcerate someone. That’s 4x more than they spend on educating someone in their public schools.”

The billboards are part of a Ben & Jerry’s campaign to promote Kaepernick’s Change the Whirled non-dairy frozen dessert and the former football player’s Know Your Rights Camp. The billboards will be up for three days, including Super Bowl Sunday.

Rather than spending exorbitantly on policing, the former San Francisco 49er advocates for investing in programs that address the root causes of crime, such as livable wages, mental health services, youth development programs and safe housing.

“Policing and prisons in the United States were never intended to keep our communities safe, and they actively threaten the safety, security and health of Black and Brown people,” Kaepernick said in a statement announcing the campaign. “When people have what they need to provide and care for themselves and their families, thriving communities are possible. For all of us to be truly safe, we need to invest deeply in our own communities and abolish policing and prisons.”

Kaepernick was playing for the San Francisco 49ers in 2016 when he began kneeling during the national anthem to protect police brutality and racial inequality. In 2017, he became a free agent, following former President Donald Trump’s suggestion that NFL owners fire protesting players. He has yet to be signed to a professional football team.