Super Bowl XLVII – The Concordian

The Super Bowl is one of the most popular sporting events on television. This year it attracted over 108 million American viewers. With such a wide viewing audience, companies try very hard and pay outrageous amounts of money (over $4 million for 30 seconds of airtime) for their commercials to be seen.

Even if the commercials don’t play in Canada, we can find them all online. We can see the heartwarming ones (like Budweiser’s The Clydesdales: “Brotherhood”), the entertaining ones (Mercedes Benz’s “Soul”) and the hilarious ones (like Taco Bell’s “Viva Young”). However, one thing that has become an alarming trend is the use of sexism and extreme sexualization to sell products.

Advertisers look for ways to make a commercial stick with viewers. If the viewer remembers the commercial, they remember the product. While time and time again companies have been able to do that without bringing inappropriate sexism into their ads, some companies push the limits.

Take for example Go Daddy, a popular web hosting company. Since it began using Danica Patrick as its spokesperson almost five years ago their commercials have consistently been very sexual in nature. Even this year their ad portrays Israeli model Bar Rafaeli making out with actor Jesse Helman. The two are used as symbols for beauty and brains, and this ad uses the nerd-lands-the-gorgeous-woman routine, portraying the woman as brainless.

An ad from Mercedes Benz also played along with a typical stereotype of women. In the ad, American model and actress Kate Upton gets a team of football players to wash her car by just standing there, tossing her hair back and posing suggestively. Not only does this ad degrade the ability of women by limiting her to such a suggestive and sexually-charged position, it also demeans the men who are willing to do anything at the sight of a pair of double Ds.

The ad for the CBS comedy 2 Broke Girls was not only overtly sexual, but so completely irrelevant that many people were caught off guard. The show, starring Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs, is about two girls who are running a cupcake shop. Instead of relating aspects of their show in the commercial, CBS decided it would be easier to have the two girls showing off their exotic dancing skills on a pole.

The restaurants Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. bought some air time this year, putting out an advertisement for their new burger. And while the burger got some attention, most of the ad was focused on Danish model Nina Agdal, who ate the meal in the most sexual way possible. At the beach wearing a bikini she spent as much time applying spray-on suntan lotion as she did actually eating. She then proceeded to take her top off and dig into a second burger.

The problem with these ads is that they’ve been pushing the envelope of what is and what isn’t acceptable in advertising. It’s time to step back and really think about what commercials we should be putting on T.V..

Every year another company tries to find a way to stand out, and while the competition is understandable, organizations need to dial down the sexualization of their products.

Ironically enough, despite the extreme sexual nature of some of these commercials, one commercial was banned from airing. The commercial, from the pornographic website PornHub, shows an elderly couple sitting on a bench together. That’s it. No sex, no nudity, nothing provocative and yet still not acceptable to air.

Yes, it’s still an advertisement for a pornographic website, but as far as what kind of message it was sending out to viewers it’s tamer and less sexualized than a burger or a car. If they can attract attention without using sex, so can other advertisers.

The Super Bowl is one of the most epic sporting events and has a vibrant and dramatic history to match. The first Super Bowl was held on Jan. 15, 1967 between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs and ended with a 35-10 victory for Green Bay. A total of 61,949 fans were in attendance at that game in Los Angeles, out of a possible 100,000 seats at the Memorial Coliseum.

Even in the very first Super Bowl, the theatrical element was present. In fact, the hero of that game was a wide receiver named Max McGee, who expected to watch the game from the sidelines. When starter Boyd Dowler separated his shoulder on the second drive, McGee was forced to step up. McGee went out the night before and was in no shape to play football the following day, let alone in a championship game.

“I waddled in about 7:30 in the morning and I could barely stand up for the kickoff,” he told the press after the game. He was confident that he wouldn’t be playing, but the only thing that could have put him in the game—an injury—happened. He borrowed a helmet from one of his teammates, having left his in the locker room, and walked on the field. Early in his performance, he caught a 37-yard touchdown pass and went on to make seven catches for 138 yards and two touchdowns. He made more catches in that Super Bowl game than he did the entire previous season, in which he only had four receptions. Talk about dramatic.

The spectacular element to the Super Bowl has yet to fail us and this year will be no exception. The two teams that squared off for the title on Sunday were the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens. Each team is coached by a Harbaugh. Two brothers will go head to head, in the ultimate sibling rivalry. The fact that this narrative has been a dominant one around the game is no surprise. This is the first time in 47 Super Bowls that a brotherly confrontation will take place. While the 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh has been known to shy away from the media and avoid answering questions about the upcoming game, John enjoys speaking with the media and joking about how his parents always liked Jim more. Despite their different personalities, one thing remains certain; both will do whatever it takes to come out on top. Their constant devotion to their respective teams came first on Sunday over any brotherly connection they have. It was a game that will be remembered for the rivalry and skill of all involved, with Baltimore taking an early lead and holding off a genuine effort from San Francisco in the second half to take the game 34-31.

Even if you are not the biggest football fan, you will probably be surrounded by friends and family watching with a beer in hand and nacho dip close by. Because it’s the Super Bowl. It’s one of the greatest sporting events in the history of sports and its flare for the dramatic makes it even better. The enormous melting pot of passion, emotion, skill and devotion make it impossible to miss that fateful day comes and so it will be for years to come.