Bills QB Josh Allen reacts to 11-story poster of his face being installed in Buffalo

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen spoke about the massive Gatorade advertisement displaying his face that was recently installed in downtown Buffalo.

Kyle Silagyi | Sep 19, 2024

Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Josh Allen’s status as an icon in the Western New York region has long been unquestioned, his standing as an almost deity-like figure in Buffalo taking physical form last week when an 11-story poster featuring the Bills quarterback’s face was hung from the facade of the Statler building in the heart of the city’s downtown area. The passer now stoically looks over Niagara Square in stark black-and-white, with the banner—which itself is an advertisement for Gatorade’s recently-renewed “Is It In You?” campaign—quickly becoming a popular talking point across the region.

And though Allen has seen some of the discourse and memes created as a result of the ad, he hasn’t yet seen the poster himself. He spoke about the banner during his Wednesday media availability, telling reporters that, though he wasn’t even aware that it was going to be installed, he’s honored by its presence.

“I’ve not seen it yet and actually was unaware of it going up,” Allen said. “I was as surprised as everybody else. Some good memes coming from that photo. It’s very cool, sitting here as now a 28-year-old man, but the 6-or-7-year-old kid that is me is going crazy right now, because it’s such an honor. It’s just really cool to have the respect from whoever did that. Hopefully people like it, if not, they can take it down, it doesn’t bother me. I don’t like looking at myself anyways.”

It has to be quite strange to wake up one morning to word that a massive image of your face now overlooks the city of Buffalo, but Allen is (expectedly) taking the ad as well as one can, hoping that it can serve as an inspiration for any children who may see it.

“I don’t know if it’s serving any inspiration to anybody down there, any kids, just knowing that small-town farm kid, no offer out of high school, one offer [from the] University of Wyoming can end up there, maybe it can inspire somebody else to do it, as well,” he said.

The adversity-lined path to NFL superstardom that Allen mentioned in his answer was recently chronicled as part of the same advertising campaign as the enormous banner, as Gatorade released a 30-second commercial highlighting the quarterback’s road to the league earlier this month. Allen is seemingly fine with his face being prominently displayed in downtown Buffalo, but the city has some qualms with it; Douglas Development, the company that owns the Statler building, did not have the proper permit in order to display the banner, per the Buffalo permit commissioner. The city is expected to allow the poster to remain hanging for the time being.

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