While Petty tries to distance himself from Bridgestone, the truth is that this abusive company is using the halftime show sponsorship and Petty's notoriety to gain public recognition and greater sales for their product.  Bridgestone uses promotional events like these as well as a range of other public relations schemes in an attempt to rebrand Firestone in response to bad press as well as the Stop Firestone Coalition's ongoing organizing and exposure of their abuses in Liberia.  Additionally, the NFL itself has partnered with Bridgestone in a multi-year marketing partnership, so they are far from clean. 

Meanwhile, Firestone continues to operate a rubber plantation in Liberia where workers are forced to bring their children to work in order to meet production quotas.  Workers live in crowded, rundown shacks without running water or electricity while managers live in mansions with golf courses.  Workers do not have access to essential safety equipment to protect themselves and the company dumps toxic chemicals in local rivers. 

As Petty says in the Rolling Stone interview, when corporations offer him money, "I'm in a good position where I’m not hard up for bread so I can say no, but it does make you think."  Well, we hope that Petty will use his time in the spotlight to think about the workers in Liberia who are exploited by Bridgestone/Firestone.