Last night I flipped on Larry King and saw him interviewing Dominic Friesen, the spokesman for Man Crunch.com. Apparently this ad had been rejected by CBS to run during the Super Bowl.
There were a couple of other guests who were weighing in with their opinion about the rejection. I can’t remember their names. There was the sitting-on-the-fence guy who thought showing the ad was just a slippery slope and the Republican who thought the ad was wrong.
Full disclosure here, I am a Republican. I believe the government should stay out of our lives as much as possible and that they should be fiscally conservative. On social issues such as this however I completely disagree. I also recycle and drink green tea.
The argument for rejecting the ad went something like this:
No one wants to have to explain to their kids why two men are kissing. That’s a discussion for another time, not during football. However discussing abortion during the Super Bowl is perfectly acceptable.
Man Crunch was accused never having the funding in place to actually air the ad. Everyone agreed it was a great PR stunt, to get rejected by CBS and the Super Bowl. At one point one of the commentators asked if Man Crunch really thought the Super Bowl was the best way to spend that kind of money. The target audience was hardly a bunch of gay men looking for love.
I completely disagree with that assertion and Dominic Friesen should have too. Many gays love Football, as do lesbians. But even more gays love the commercials during the Super Bowl. My father never watched football, he much preferred to listen to the opera but when the Super Bowl aired he was all about watching the ads, just like everyone else. Some of the best Super Bowl parties I have been to have been hosted by gays. In fact, does anyone really watch the game? Having a Man Crunch ad air during the Super Bowl would be a great ROI. To suggest less is offensive.
As for my kids watching two men kiss on TV and the discussion that would supposedly follow? First, I don’t think they’d even notice it but if they did I’d be happy to0 talk to them, again, about two men kissing. I’d much rather they watch two football fans making out then Paris Hilton have her hamburger orgasm.
And I certainly don’t want to discuss abortion with them during the game, but now it looks like we will be doing just that.
And what of the kids who are sitting and watching the game with their two dads or two moms? Wouldn’t a commercial like the Man Crunch one just normalize their life a little more? As in their lifestyle is not longer a “lifestyle” but just like everyone else?
I’d like to see the commercial aired.
As for CBS, it’s their network, they can air any commercial they see fit. And if gays choose not to watch CBS that’s okay too.
What do you think? Is it okay to air these kinds of commercials. Do you want to see two men kissing or would you rather get a 30 second spot about the horrors of abortion?
We don’t have television. I’m so very happy about that.
Could you kindly translate your website into Italian because I’m not that comfortable reading it in English? I’m getting tired of using Google Translate all the time, there is a little WP plugin called like global translator which will render all your pages automatically- this would make reading posts on your sweet blog even more enjoyable. Cheers dude, Yulanda Chesher!