Super Fowl

Posted on February 1, 2004 in Censorship Journalists & Pundits

This mass media event was a turkey, a real “Super Fowl”.

CBS was quick to avoid covering the waltz of a G-string clad streaker across the field. But when Janet Jackson’s dress “came undone” during her duet with Justin Timberlake, they kept the network feed rolling.

Commercials during the overpriced pigskin fiesta weren’t censored either:

One spot featured two guys at a hunting camp compare their canines’ talents. One has a dog that fetches a Bud Light from a cooler. “What can your dog do?” asks the pleased owner. “Bud Light,” commands the man wanting a beer, prompting his scroungy pooch to lunge for the pants of the other guy, who squeals and flings his bottle….

Sierra Mist soda explored the same territory. And one can only hope the kilt-wearing bagpiper in their ad is wearing a certain piece of football gear as he gets relief from the heat by exposing himself to blasts of frigid air from a subway grate. A boy looking on says, “That’s just wrong, Dad.”

This is the same network which refused to air MoveOn’s “Child’s Pay” ad because it was “offensive”.

I am unconvinced by CBS’s apology. Janet Jackson wore a gold-star pastie beneath her black vinyl dress. What prompted her to place it there? A pastie lacks the uplift of a bra. Was this a planned accident and CBS a knowing collaborator?

MoveOn deserves the real apology from CBS. “Child’s Pay” is not pornographic or unfair: it merely states the Bush record factually and asks “who is going to pay for this deficit?” Instead of thoughtful discussion, however, CBS chose to pipe inebriation, flippancy and crudeness into the psyche of the American male.