Super Bowl surprises
First, it was a great game, no matter which team you were rooting for. Whether at home or in the stadium, you felt you were in on one big party, and from the Star Bangled Banner to the final blizzard of confetti, it was all good. But people at home had the chance to see the much-anticipated ads. How were they?
Here’s my take….
The Tebow ad that drew so much fire from abortion activists came so early and went so fast and said so little, it was startling. Probably to everyone, supporters and critics alike. Today’s Chicago Tribune has a little item about it on page 3 that needs a slight correction though. The headline is “Little controversy in actual Tebow family ad”, and the sub-head says ‘Political ad is first for CBS to air during Super Bowl. ‘Scuse me? “Political ad”? Did they watch it? See, when papers write things so jarringly off base like that, it casts more doubt on the rest of their reporting (than already existed in that paper). But then, this is Chicago, and they see politics in everything.
By the way, some feminists are still calling the Tebow ad offensive, but now they’re changing the subject as to why. Because Tim playfully tackled his mother, and they both popped up teasing each other with humor and affection. But that faux tackle offended some feminists….seriously, though that’s hard to take seriously. Trouble is, they had their opportunities to take issue with Super Bowl ads here. The one with office workers all walking around in their underwear was demeaning to the people in the ad, women and men alike. Pretty hard to watch, too. So was the one with men marching around a field in their briefs chanting something about being men who don’t wear pants. Whew. How undignified was that?!
And are feminists saying anything today about those GoDaddy ads featuring attractive women wanting to strip down to show why they may qualify as attention grabbers in future GoDaddy ads?
So back to finding politics in Super Bowl ads…..There was an opportunity in that big Letterman-Oprah-Leno surprise spot. Cute, the three of them on a sofa, the guys munching chips, Letterman growling, Oprah asking him to be nice…..Know how this got filmed? Network heads and producers and all three celebrities connived to sneak Leno into Letterman’s CBS studio to film it. But first, NBC Universal flew Leno to New York on a private jet just for this little advertising gig. Where are the global warming/climate change activists now, and what was the cost of that carbon emission?
In other words, advertising tells us a lot about ourselves, how we see ourselves and talk to each other. Let’s be civil, let’s be consistent, and let’s learn from those cute little babies in the etrade commercials how to laugh with each other. Because as Drew Brees said after winning the Super Bowl, thanking God, and holding his baby boy in his arms on the field to enjoy the big celebration, this is what it’s all about.
“Earlier, as confetti swirled just above the playing surface at Sun Life Stadium, Brees’ eyes were already watering, trying not to cry as he held his son, Baylen, who was wearing a Saints jersey with his father’s name on the back and a headset so the loud celebration wouldn’t scare him. Brees struggled yet one more time to keep his emotions in check as he lifted the silver Lombardi trophy over his head.
“But a few minutes into his postgame interview, Brees simply quit trying.
“Eighty-five percent of the city was under water, all the residents evacuated all over the country, people never knowing if they were coming back or if New Orleans would come back,” he said. “But not only the city came back, and the team came back … when the players got there, we all looked at one another and said, ‘We’re going to rebuild together.’
“We leaned on each other,” Brees said, pausing as he choked up. “This is the culmination of that.”
Yeah, we’re all in this together.