Along with the Patriot's dynasty-making victory, the memory of Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction loomed over last night's Super Bowl, and made the entire spectacle more bland than usual. Companies pulled ads that were deemed "controversial" in an attempt to avoid fines from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Forget football, the Super Bowl is America's annual festival of excessive consumerism. The game itself is rarely as entertaining as the conference championships, or college bowl games. The ads and performances are the main reason many people tune in to watch the game, and are what most will be talking about tomorrow.
Unfortunately, the fear of the FCC's wrath and popular condemnation caused companies to pull a number of ads, which cost $2.4 million for a 30-second spot. Lincoln cut an ad which showed a priest lusting after a car, and Anheuser-Busch pulled one that parodied Jackson's wardrobe malfunction. It's unlikely either of these ads, or any of the others cut, would have caused great offense to viewers. The advertising industry chose to forego creativity to play it safe for the FCC.
Paul McCartney's halftime show was in accordance with the program's middle-of-the-road attitude, and failed to impress. Producers must have hoped that McCartney's wholesomeness and forty-year old hits would redeem the halftime show. If McCartney himself couldn't, then giant pictures of the American flag and Statue of Liberty during "Hey Jude" certainly reminded viewers of the wholesome ideals of the show's producers. McCartney, ironically, was considered to be a prime example of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll in his heyday.
Sporting events were never meant to be high-brow, but the Super Bowl was too white-bread this year. Bring creativity back to the commercials and contemporary performers to the half-time show. Controversy is preferable to censorship.
