Super Bowl Ad Offense

By: Chris Johnson

Another Super Bowl has come and gone and along with it the momentary buzz about the yearly Super Bowl ads.  For the most part, advertisers steered away from the blatant, sexualized ads of previous years.  In the past, commercials such as the Miller Beer sleazy “cat-fightâ€Â ad featuring mud-wrestling, bikini clad women and Pizza Hut’s erotic display of Jessica Simpson were becoming the typical degrading device to capture attention. While this year’s line-up of commercials was certainly not devoid of crudeness and lewdness, the majority of the 2012 Super Bowl ads were not overtly erotic.  Perhaps advertisers are finally learning that women watch the Super Bowl, too! Tim Calkins, a professor of marketing at Northwestern University agrees.  "Advertisers this year are playing it very safe.  They're running spots that are clearly designed to appeal to a broad audience and not to offend." Of course there were several exceptions – most notably GoDaddy.com’s lame ads featuring race car driver Danica Patrick and fitness guru Jillian Michaels.  The basic theme of GoDaddy’s demeaning ads changes very little from year to year.  Each SuperBowl the company trots out a similar ad consisting of buxom women tearing off their blouses to reveal cleavage pouring out of a GoDaddy emblazoned tank top and urging viewers to go to their website to see more.  With no attempt at creativity, GoDaddy goes for the gutter and takes viewers with it. Take Action! Click here to contact these advertisers which were the worst offenders during last night’s Super Bowl. While many news sites rate the Super Bowl ads on appeal, below we have our own ratings of the five worst offenders airing sexualized ads during the Super Bowl. 1.  The above-mentioned Go-Daddy aired two offensive ads during the Super Bowl.  The first featured Danica Patrick and Jillian Michaels painting the GoDaddy logo on the body of a naked woman.  The second GoDaddy ad featured dozens of nearly nude women erotically parading around a man.  Reminiscent of the Islamic teaching of 72 virgins waiting in heaven for martyrs, the lusting guy in the GoDaddy ad asks:  “Is this heaven?â€ÂÂ  One of the models disrobes – blurred out by light – saying:  “No, this is.â€Â 2.  Teleflora features a Victoria’s Secret model in an ad that is hardly distinguishable from Victoria’s Secret.  As the camera seductively pans up the models body as she dresses in suggestive lingerie and clothing, she tells the male viewers – “Give and you shall receive,â€Â – while Teleflora displays the slogan “Happy Valentine’s Night.â€ÂÂ Â  Not only is Teleflora implying that if men would only send their girlfriends and wives flowers for Valentine’s Day, women will “put outâ€Â for them that night ( i.e. that women will trade sex for flowers).  However, what is by far worse is that in the ad Teleflora is degrading God’s Holy Word, twisting it into a crude, sexual innuendo. 3.  Kia also uses the same Victoria Secret model in an ad where a married man dreams of  a very explicit image of this cleavage-baring woman, as well as an entire group of bikini-clad women cheering him on as he races his Kia car around a track. 4. The car company Fiat also used graphic sexual imagery to try to sell cars – showing a woman being leered at by a man.  She then seductively teases the man, including putting whipped cream down her cleavage.  The ad switches to the car as he is leaning in to lick the whipped cream.  The ads tagline is "You'll never forget the first time you see one. Greg Dinoto, chief creative officer of advertising agency Deutsch in New York said about the ad:  “…some decisions are made with the head and the Italian car decision resides in the groin, …" 5.  Toyota is the third car company which fell back on the tired theme of using skin and sex.  Toyota advertised their "reinvented" Camry showing a man opening his apartment door to find a "reinvented" couch – made up of women wearing bikinis squatting and kneeling in a line to form a “couch.â€ÂÂ  The ad switches to the same man now seeing bare-chested men in boxers in the same position, as the ad states:  "It also comes in male.â€Â  Is this to imply homosexual overtones? The Super Bowl is a family event – families which should not be subjected to unwanted sexualized images and themes as they watch it together.  Other advertisers seem to have gotten that message and relied on actual creativity instead of stooping to crude, degrading sexual imagery to promote their products. Click on the link below to express your concern and urge these corporations to not use tasteless and degrading sexual imagery in their advertising. Take Action! Click here to contact these advertisers which were the worst offenders during last night’s Super Bowl. ========================================================== To support our efforts please click here or mail your gift to American Decency Association (ADA), PO Box 202, Fremont, MI 49412. American Decency Association is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

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