Superbowl Side Plot

TV commercials relating to abortion and a gay dating website that have been scheduled to appear during the Super Bowl are causing CBS to navigate an ideological mine field. “This year, the Super Bowl will be jollified by a side-plot that perhaps reflects the true state of the nation: an angry dispute between liberals and the religious right. Women’s groups and gay activists are squaring up against opponents from the ‘family values’ lobby over the contents of two very different television adverts that are due to air when the New Orleans Saints take on the Indianapolis Colts in next Sunday’s finale of the American football season. One of the commercials carries a hard-hitting anti-abortion message, and was made by a conservative Christian organization. The other couldn’t be more different: it publicizes a gay dating website called Mancrunch, and features two men holding hands on a sofa, and then passionately kissing. Their existence immediately sparked predictable outrage from both ends of the political spectrum. Now this year’s Super Bowl broadcaster, CBS, is being bombarded with calls to keep either or both of them from the airwaves.”