richardhowe.com

More often than not, the Super Bowl turns out to be a lousy football game. If you doubt that, just think of 1986 (Bears 46, Patriots 10) or 1997 (Packers 35, Patriots 21). And for all the buzz about them, I’d say the same is also true about Super Bowl commercials. In recent non-Patriot years, I’ve focused as much on the commercials as on the game and few have left me with a “that was pretty good” reaction.

This year even before game day, two commercials have gotten a great deal of attention. One features Florida QB Tim Tebow and his mom and is pro-life/anti-abortion. I don’t believe the video of the ad or even the script has been released yet so I can’t include it here. I’m looking forward to seeing this ad and listening to its message, whether I agree with it or not.

The second ad is one you won’t see, at least on CBS during the Super Bowl. It’s by a website called ManCrunch.com which is a dating service for gay men. In its letter rejecting the ad, CBS wrote the ad “is not within the Network’s broadcast standards for Super Bowl Sunday” which I find a laughable claim given the crude, low humor laden commercials I’ve been subjected to during Super Bowls past.

I can imagine exactly how this decision was made at the highest levels of CBS. Someone said “whatever criticism we get for rejecting the ad will be infinitely less than the grief we will endure if we let it on the air.” In that I believe CBS has badly miscalculated. In another context, Frank Rich writes this week about the mammoth change that has occurred in Americans’ attitudes since 2004 “when Karl Rove and George W. Bush ran a national campaign exploiting fear of gay people.” Rich points to the “curious silence” from much of the right in response to Adm Mike Mullen’s call for repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell as evidence that mainstream America now recognizes that being gay is not a “lifestyle” but “an immutable identity.” Hopefully he’s right.

As for the Super Bowl ads, I’ve included two below. The first is the ManCrunch ad that was just rejected by CBS; the second is a Snickers ad that did run during the 2007 Super Bowl. View them both and you’ll see the hypocrisy of CBS.