UPDATE: Behold, even more sexist ads that aired during the big game have been added below.
When do corporations spend $100K-per-second for TV ads in which the product will inevitably be forgotten by consumers, but the content will help spread misogynistic stereotypes?
On Super Bowl Sunday.
Whether or not you enjoy football as a sport or the Super Bowl as an event, chances are you’ll be watching the big game on February 6. Maybe you’re looking forward to The Black Eyed Peas’ halftime show, or Bill O’Reilly’s pre-game interview with President Obama. Maybe you even plan to watch the cast of Glee butcher Michael Jackson’s magnum opus “Thriller” during the post-game fun (check out a premonition of it here). But for me and many others, the Super Bowl ads are a significant pull to the game. Sometimes they’re funny. Sometimes they’re sad. All I know is that they cost an absurd amount of money.
Unfortunately, in order to compensate for all that cash, the ads tend to be controversial and risky–many times at the expense of women. Over the years, there have been some Super Bowl ads so offensive that have been rejected from the broadcast or banned from further broadcast because of their blatant sexism. And the winner for most offensive ads, both this year and all-time? It’s PETA, in a runaway.
Below are some of the ads promised for this Sunday, followed by ads that have appeared in Super Bowls past. Warning: nausea inducing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ3YgDYt7Pg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBuuiKp4qU8&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRYLhkOV2so&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIgcCdbplqQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htFlkfjOkNA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc9H739kNWw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptrCxdj4k7Y
Ads from previous Super Bowls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTdPRlHB4Os
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhFMD6ybP2E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guq08RXSjdU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrJnv2peeZw
Photo via Flickr user Westside Shooter under Creative Commons 3.0.