The Right Side Of The Ball
In the world of event marketing there is no bigger event than the Super Bowl. Well, in the U.S. at least. You could even say that it’s bigger than Jesus.
Now, before you go at it like a crazed Mary Witehouse, just bear with me and all will become clear.
To us, the Super Bowl seems like a fraidycat’s game of rugby, but it is the most-watched event Stateside, having an audience nearly twice as large as the World Series. It’s no surprise, then, that advertising costs are eye-watering – around $2.5million for a thirty second slot. But the marketing around the event itself has traditionally lent on the light-hearted fence and, much like the best promo gigs we get, is all about having fun.
Enter Tim Tebow, darling of the college football fraternity and already a nationwide star, who stars in an anti-abortion advert funded by Christian group Focus on the Family that has been preliminarily accepted by broadcaster CBS. The perfect subject for such a campaign (Tebow was nearly aborted by his mother by the recommendation of consultants), he wears make-up citing biblical passages during a game.
Which is all well and good - and I’m not even going to go into the freedom of speech equals freedom to choose debate – but as Gregg Doyel wrote of his own network, “[this] is simply not the day to have that discussion”. After all, The Who are playing at half time. Can you imagine Pete Townshend coming on the mic (no pun intended) and leering, “And remember kids, don’t wear a condom”? Like any brief that we’ll get, certain rules like no sexual innuendo have to be heeded for very good reason. I mean, in no sense could a discussion on abortion be anywhere part of a 5-Star brand experience. Could it?
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Posted by Pawan on January 26, 2010