Advertisements during the Super Bowl are arguably some of the most entertaining of the year; for some they can even be more entertaining than the game itself. But one ad this year — the non-profit organization Focus on the Family's spot featuring Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and his mother, Pam, a former Christian missionary — drew a particularly notable amount of attention. The ad, entitled "Celebrate family, celebrate life," features Pam discussing her "miracle baby" who "almost didn't make it into this world." While the ad itself does not explicitly discuss "their story" — Pam decided not to abort her child despite enduring a life-threatening pregnancy — it directs viewers to the Web site of the blatantly pro-life, evangelical Focus on the Family.
The "Celebrate family, celebrate life" ad is unique in that it is the first advocacy ad to appear during the Super Bowl, the most-watched television broadcast in the United States with an estimated viewership of over 100 million. Since Focus on the Family announced plans for the ad on Jan. 15, numerous advocacy organizations have spoken out against CBS for agreeing to air it. On Jan. 25, a coalition of women's advocacy groups, including the Feminist Majority and the National Organization for Women, called for a protest against the broadcasting company, stating that by giving Focus on the Family airtime, CBS is effectively supporting the group's agenda.
The Daily's objection is not to the content of the Focus on the Family ad but with CBS. While the broadcast company decided to air this controversial ad containing implicit political and social meanings, it rejected a commercial last month from a gay dating Web site, Mancrunch.com, which shows two men kissing. At the time, CBS' Standards and Practices Department said the Mancrunch ad was "not within the Network's broadcast standards for Super Bowl Sunday." CBS needs to clearly define what these "standards" are and how a politically fueled advocacy ad fits into them.
CBS has not maintained standardized practices in deciding when to reject Super Bowl advertisements. The network has a track record of turning away morals-based advocacy ads from the Super Bowl broadcast — in 2004, the network would not air ads from the United Church of Christ and MoveOn.org, a political advocacy group that wanted to air an anti-George W. Bush piece — but it chose to air the "Celebrate family, celebrate life" spot. While one can argue that the 2004 ads contained more explicit messages than the Tebow ad, CBS still decided to run an ad this year that broadcasts the political and social messages of an advocacy group.
The Daily feels that CBS' decision to allow an advocacy spot during the Super Bowl inherently implies that the network supports the message the ad contains. The fact that this is the first time such an ad has been shown during the game, and that it was shown in such a way — during the first commercial break of the Super Bowl — gives the spot a prominence that reflects a bias on the part of CBS.
If CBS as a business organization wishes to remain impartial when it comes to political messages, it has two options: either reject or run all politically charged ads. There is no middle ground.
