If you saw that ad, it's very likely your reaction was the same as mine.
What's the big deal?
The opponents of the Tim Tebow ad made one huge mistake. They made judgments about something they hadn't seen. By doing so, they made judgments with little information. They immediately had egg on their faces.
The ad couldn't have been more innocuous. A lot of people had a lot riding on the idea that this ad was going to somehow be far too controversial for the Super Bowl. It wasn't but these groups already had too much invested in it begin inappropriate.
As such, it should come as no surprise that many of these same groups are now asserting the ludicrous idea that because Tim Tebow tackled his mom that this perpetuates violence toward women. Even the groups themselves acknowledge this.
In fact, as most of them take up this ludicrous attack, one theme remains the same. "Focus on the Family is a radical organization". That is really the heart of the matter here. Focus on the Family, in the view of its opponents, is too radical to be privileged enough to be showcased on the Super Bowl.
One of the criticisms of the ad is that the hook is an attempt to get people to go to the FOTF website. That, to the likes of NOW, is unacceptable. Now, first, going to their site is entirely a choice. While it was likely an effective hook, the hook is entirely a choice. Even that, opponents of FOTF is too much.
The ad and the firestorm were either a stroke of brilliant luck or a stroke of genius. Had I not been exposed to the controversy, that ad would have been really confusing. Because I knew the whole story, I followed the commercial. If FOTF predicted the firestorm, it was a stroke of genius. If not, it was blind luck that made this commercial a massive success. The media firestorm turned a fairly innocuous ad into the subject of endless fascination and analysis. Most of all, that helps Focus on the Family.
The real controversy here is the idea of whether or not some in our society can deem, by force of will, that others aren't allowed to be part of the mainstream. That's at the heart of this controversy. FOTF opponents view it as radical. As such, they don't think it deserves to be ratified by a mainstream source like the Super Bowl. This ad also showed that such a position doesn't hold water.
Its still about the principle. CBS et. al had denied these groups the ability to air ads for years. For no other reason than that there was a controversy.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, its not just the networks, its the NFL who has to approve the ads. Hence that whole "the following is a presentation of the national football league" at the start of every game. It means the NFL signed off on what the network was going to show.