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          Josh Allen's Gatorade ad lights up Buffalo despite permit hiccup

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          • Alaina Getzenberg, ESPNSep 20, 2024, 01:29 PM
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              Alaina Getzenberg is a staff writer who covers the Buffalo Bills and the NFL. She joined ESPN in 2021. Alaina was previously a beat reporter for the Charlotte Observer and has also worked for CBS Sports and the Dallas Morning News. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. You can follow her via Twitter @agetzenberg.

          BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The entire ad of Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen did not need to be in place for his face to be recognizable. Attention went to the side of the Statler building in downtown Buffalo on Aug. 14 as a nearly 12-floor long Gatorade advertisement featuring Allen was put up on the side of the building.

          The display features Allen's face with blue Gatorade dripping down, along with the company's "Is It In You?" slogan and its orange logo placed above him. At night, blue lights illuminate the sign, drawing plenty of onlookers to admire the franchise quarterback in this busy part of downtown.

          "I said to myself, 'That is the coolest thing I've seen. That is the coolest thing I've seen.' Cause the last thing that I seen [something] like that, if I'm correct, it was LeBron James, right? LeBron James had like one of those big old things in Cleveland," left tackle Dion Dawkins said. "... Gatorade is lit. Josh is lit. 17 is him. ... Buffalo is but so big and Josh is bigger than the building, so imagine like a floating Josh like, you're driving on the, on the throughway and you look over and look, there's Josh Allen staring at you with a Gatorade symbol."

          The issue, however, is that the building owner put it up without the necessary permissions from the City of Buffalo, as confirmed by Cathy Amdur, the commissioner of permit and inspection services for the city. Some time constraints were involved with getting the sign up due to the campaign. The owner of the building, Douglas Jemal, submitted a request to receive a permit for the sign in late August. It was then reviewed and determined that a zoning variance was needed. The city boards, including the zoning board of appeals, however, are in recess for the month of August. While there are meetings once per month, September was so full that some items were pushed to October, including the ad.

          The sign, however, was put up before that meeting took place with the timing of the ad campaign leading to the city issuing an order to remedy normal proceedings in this instance.

          "Our first concern is always safety. It was put up prior to a permit being issued, they had engineered plans for how that was going to be put up," Amdur said. "We immediately asked for a third-party inspection to make sure it's safe, and that safety is our primary concern as a building department. So, they had an engineer out there immediately, and within hours we had a signed and sealed letter from a structural engineer verifying that it was installed safely to the plans that were submitted and approved."

          The Buffalo News reported that it's not the first time a property he's associated with has gone under scrutiny for not following protocols. Jemal has been working with the city on being compliant. Amdur explained that summonses and fines were issued for working without a permit and installing an unapproved sign, which is common in situations like this. However, the sign is not planned to be removed, and the temporary display will remain in place as they navigate the approval process.

          The ad in Buffalo is one of several being placed on buildings across the country as part of the campaign, such as one featuring Caitlin Clark in Indianapolis. Allen wasn't even aware the sign was being put up, but he appreciated the magnitude of it.

          "I was as surprised as everybody else. Some good memes coming from that photo. It's very cool," Allen said. "Sitting here as now a 28-year-old man, but the 6-, 7-year-old kid that is me is going crazy right now because it's such an honor and it's just really cool to have the respect from whoever did that, and hopefully people like it. If not, they can take it down. It doesn't bother me. I don't like looking at myself anyways.

          "If it's serving any inspiration to anybody down there, any kids, just know that -- small town, farm kid, no offer out of high school, one offer University of Wyoming and ending up there, maybe it can inspire someone else to do it as well."