Peyton Manning Awkward About Seeing Himself In Commercials

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning has pitched almost as many products as he has footballs in his career, but claims seeing himself in commercials is awkward.

Peyton Manning of the Denver Broncos is the No. 1 endorser in the NFL.

So says Forbes, which claims the quarterback makes nearly $12 million a year for his various advertising deals.

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Manning endorses DirecTV, Papa John’s, Buick, Gatorade and Nationwide at present (and wouldn’t a mashup of all five in a single commercial be glorious?) and it’s hard to watch more than five or 10 minutes of sports programming on television without Manning trying to aw-shucks you out of some cash.

But Manning says while others might think it’s fun, he tries to avoid himself—particularly if teammates are around.

"“I change the channel immediately,” a laughing Manning told The Denver Post. “If other teammates are in the room, I run out of the room. I don’t want to hear the abuse coming my way. I don’t watch a ton of TV so I don’t see a lot of it but that is what I do, I change the channel.“Nobody should be caught watching themselves on a commercial.”"

In his most recent insurance spot for Nationwide, Manning is shown singing the company’s jingle—everywhere.

He’s shown making a chicken parmesan sandwich in the commercial and when the Broncos cafeteria served those recently, defensive tackle Mitch Unrein couldn’t stop himself.

"“Mitch Unrein sand the little jingle tune and he said he just couldn’t help it,” Manning said. “It was a layup. I just served it right up to him.”"

One might ask that if the commercials are that uncomfortable, why does Manning do them?

I figure he’s got 12 million reasons to.

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