Comments on: Super Bowl Fight Heats Up: Lawsuit Against CBS for Anti-Choice Ad, Rejected Gay Dating Site Cries Foul

By: FemmeClark

FemmeClark — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:31:51 +0000

I totally agree. It’s not so much that they denied a craptastic ad and more that they are allowing an INCREDIBLY politically charged ad about abortion to air. Trust me, in the (straight) South, the only thing that is worse than two men kissing is abortion. While I realize that this is the primary demographic, the Super Bowl is no more the place for discussing politics than a root canal.

This is much more an issue of what they’ve denied in the past than why they turned down this ad.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:47:15 +0000

Thanks, DeeG! You’re right, there are holes on both sides. There always are! Funny how issues are almost never as black and white as some people paint them.

By: Bri

Bri — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:38:15 +0000

As always Sarah, fantastic article.

And agreed: the ad is awful and I’d even bet some chips that ManCrunch did this on purpose. Riese is right: They knew the controversy would be even better publicity than the ad actually airing.

But CBS has a history (as discussed previously) of being a conservative media outlet. The UCC rejection, the flipping out over Janet and her pasties that one Super Bowl, and now this OBVIOUS bias with the Focus on the Family ad being allowed to run. It doesn’t help their case that they run this ad the same year they deny a gay dating site (no matter how tasteless it is). And who could forget Touched by an Angel? They’re just so obvious about it.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:58:15 +0000

Yeah I totes agree with you, Taylor. This would’ve been pretty bad for the gays had it aired. I just wish that companies able to make a high-quality commercial would make a pro-gay ad, instead of things like that bullshit homophobic Snickers commercial a few years ago. Or that homophobic, yuppie Budweiser commercial. So many examples!

I also wish this ad was better so we could have a national discussion about it on proper terms. Instead, it just looks like we’re whining, as Riese said.

By: gabi

gabi — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:50:38 +0000

that ad reminded me of this

By: a;ex

a;ex — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:18:17 +0000

the commercial seems homophobic for NOT having them kiss for real and i am glad to not have another asinine representation of non-heteros.
exactly.

By: Emily

Emily — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:05:31 +0000

this is weird and i don’t know how i feel about this. i kind of wish we could just stick to beer commercials.

By: Grace Chu

Grace Chu — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:55:47 +0000

that mancrunch ad reminds me of the final scene in bruno. a low budget stupid gag meant to cause a ton of “OMG!!!” and “WTF!!!!” agree w/ taylor about the lgbt community having to censor the more outrageous elements – sucks but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. anyway, mancrunch is crying wolf to generate publicity for their site. ignore.

[although a little part of me wants the ad to air and be a fly on the wall on various super bowl parties in the bible belt. tee hee.]

By: taylor

taylor — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:21:02 +0000

also, thanks SP for your perspective on this!

By: taylor

taylor — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:18:54 +0000

i’m going to say it’s safe to assume here that cbs rejects a motherfuckton of ads, right? superbowl commercial space is the most coveted advertising time that i’m aware of. do we know what kind of criteria go into their selection for these slots? i’m going to guess money and also money.

i’m glad the ad won’t run. on top of being tacky and terribly cheap looking, i can’t imagine the absolute tidal wave of backlash at its poorly executed and awkward make out stunt. i think most things about it are beyond counter-productive for our community as a whole, not that everything queer must be politically charged, per se, but mancrunch’s obviously contrived/strategic seizure of the ad’s rejection as an opportunity for martyrdom opens them up to this kind of ideological criticism, anyway, i feel like.

it’s a sticky issue, though i am occasionally in favor of the lgbt community self-censoring in order to make our message more palatable to the masses. which is super fucking lame and unfortunate, of course. and you know, of course i’d rather be militantly fire-bombing the houses of known prop-8 financial backers, but i’ve spent enough time in the trenches of O’ Reilly Factor middle america to know that people are just dying for another excuse to write us off as godless, sex-crazed, child-molesting heathen aliens, so i’d rather not play into their hands.

also i can’t use words yet because it’s the morning.

By: riese

riese — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 09:15:24 +0000

But there’s no proof that CBS didn’t pick up the ad because it was gay. They claim it was just low production value and didn’t meet their standards. That’s where the problem lies in making the comparison between the two. I think the more accurate comparison is comparing the Focus on the Family pickup to CBS’s refusal to pick up the gay church ad last year.

By: Lez-BeHonest Press » Riri Tells a Lesbian “I’m single”, Kanye Goes off And Lashes Out About Fashion Week, New Lesbian Movie, CBS Gets Sued for Discriminating Against Gay People and More!!

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 07:01:10 +0000

[...] the people over at Mancrunch which is an internet hooking up site for gay men are are suing CBS, because CBS rejected their commercial to air during the superbowl. At first we thought wow CBS sucks for that, complete discrimination, [...]