Sports News

That Tebow ad | Michael Tomasky

The Yanks among us will be familiar with this controversy. CBS, the US network airing the Super Bowl, has accepted an ad from the group Focus on the Family, featuring mega-college football star Tim Tebow and his mom talking about how the doctors advised her to get an abortion, but she refused and lo and behold gave birth to a Heisman Trophy winner and God-fearing young man. It breaks a long-understood ban on political advertising.

I guess I should mention here that people at Focus on the Family say, as I heard their guy say on NPR last week, that “there’s nothing political” about the ad. Right. It’s about abortion. But it’s not political.

I’d say the same by the way if they permitted a pro-choice ad. It’s not the place for politics.

Now, word emerges that CBS turned down an ad for a gay dating service. The gay ad was funny, as most Supe ads strive to be, and it wasn’t about politics at all. Just dating. But I guess dating is inherently political if you’re trying to date someone of your own sex.

CBS has also turned down an ad from godaddy.com featuring an ex-football player (they’re not “footballers” over here) who becomes a fashion designer. So it’s pretty obvious where the bias is here, eh?

Oh well. Viewers will still get to watch three-plus hours of men slapping one another’s asses and hugging, culminating in professions of teammate love for the winners.