By snoadmin
Controversy other than Janet Jackson’s nipple created quite a buzz among media outlets, gay rights advocates and feminist organizations before and after CBS’s airing of Super Bowl XLIV on Sunday. While an antiabortion advertisement was criticized far in advance of its showing during the national event, it surprised most with its almost nonexistent message — the word “abortion” wasn’t counted a single time.
Focus on the Family, an evangelical group opposed to abortion, is said to be the first advocacy group to land an ad spot during the Super Bowl. In a soft-balled attempt at getting viewers on its Web Site, the ad’s only indication to abortion is when Pam Tebow, mother of Florida Gators quarterback Tim Lebow says, “He almost didn’t make it into this world.”
In the past, CBS maintained a policy that it would not publish “controversial issues of public importance.” But in its change of heart with Focus on the Family, Dana McClintock, CBS spokesperson said, “Our [previous] stance did not reflect public sentiment or industry norms.”
CBS may be unraveling its restrictions on allowing ads with an agenda, which supports First Amendment rights, however, the choice deepens the appearance of discrimination toward a dating Web site by the name of ManCrunch.com. This site is what you could call the gay version of eHarmony.
A more theatric and comedic ad created by ManCrunch.com, a company that hoped to advertise during the Super Bowl, made it hard to take the actors seriously. Two men sit watching the game in Colts and Saints football jerseys when they reach for chips and childishly whimper when their hands meet. They begin to “neck” — their lips don’t ever actually touch. The camera pans out and another man is seen with eyes wide open in shock to see his friends engage in some heavy petting.
CBS refused to run the ad, saying it didn’t meet its broadcast standards.
ManCrunch.com is not an advocacy ad, but is controversial, nonetheless. In looking at it through CBS’s recently-devised and still quavering policy on running advocacy ads, the gay-dating Web Site doesn’t fall into the advocacy-ad territory. It is selling a product, just like Match.com and other dating Web sites.
And yet, CBS said there were two reasons for not publishing ManCrunch.com’s advertisement: It did not meet the “standards” — which are ostensible at best — and it didn’t trust that the company could afford the steep cost of Super Bowl advertising. According to the New York Times, however, the site said it had the money ready and in hand.
CBS also tried to tell ManCrunch.com it ran out of space for the ad, even though it was still accepting other advertisers; NPR reported that CBS was still accepting ads up until days before the Super Bowl. The network seemed to be grasping at straws in trying to explain its skewed judgment in not running the gay-dating ad.
Could it be that CBS isn’t fond of same-sex canoodling on the air? Or even worse, could it be something even deeper like man-to-man relations specifically, since lesbian acts are far more “sexy”? Wondering why we would think CBS would carry such a heavy bias toward the males in the gay community?
Let’s go back to 2009, during the American Music Awards. One of CBS’s morning shows “The Early Show,” in a round-up presentation of what happened the night before, had no problem comparing Adam Lambert’s kiss with one of his band members to Madonna and Brittany Spears locking lips at the MTV Music Awards several years before. The difference between the two scenes in the morning re-cap: One was blurred out, and one was not — within seconds of each other. I’m sure you can guess which clip CBS didn’t think was OK for its viewers. The network defended itself saying that the Madonna-on-Spears clip had already been widely disseminated, so what did it matter?
This statement from CBS bears no ground in the technologically-advanced world of media. Nowadays, everything is widely dispersed within seconds of any broadcast. And now comes ManCrunch.com.
Gay-rights organizations have every right to criticize CBS for its illusive decision with the Super Bowl ad. Its change in policy on allowing an advocacy ad doesn’t follow suit in rejecting a male duo kissing. In 2010, where gay couples are still fighting for the right to marry freely, are fighting to enlist openly in the military, among many other daily discriminatory occurrences, CBS should have taken a leading role in allowing the Super Bowl to come out of the closet.
