Monday, February 2, 2009

Superbowl advertising

At lot of the entertainment of the Superbowl is its commercials. Two
ads didn't get playtime, even though their sponsors were willing to
pay the $3 million for each spot. One for PETA, showed exotic women
in various stages of undress. They rubbed vegetables across their
barely clad bodies. "Vegetarians have better sex" was the message.
PETA uses shock to gets its message across. According to NBC, the
shock value of this ad "depicted a level of sexuality that exceeded
their standards."

The second ad that didn't make it to the Superbowl was pro-life.
Sponsored by the group CatholicVote in Chicago, the commercial
features a fetus, swelling violin music, and the message that if
Barack Obama's mother had aborted him we would not have had the first
African American president. (Some writers suggested that the ad
insinuated that Obama's mother would have aborted him had it been
legal. I didn't see that message in the ad.)

NBC made the right decision in banning both of these ads. Advocacy
ads didn't belong in the Superbowl. However, in banning them both ads
got press and coverage as well as viewers that might not have actually
seen them. So you be the judge. You can go to YouTube to see both
ads.

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