Two Monkeys, Ten Minutes

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Sunday, February 01, 2004

Duper Bowl

CBS won't air MoveOn.com's Super Bowl ad, claiming that the network has a policy against "advocacy" ads [cf].

Um, isn't all advertising a form of advocacy? Why are advertisers spending so much money if they're not trying to sway us, the viewers, to their point of view: mainly, that buying their products and services will improve our lives -- and that the competition's products and services aren't nearly as good. Shouldn't CBS's anti-advocacy policy require the network to ban all advertising?

Let's break this down a little:

Advocacy that's OK for CBS: Drinking a certain brand of beer will make large-breasted women want to sleep with you.
Advocacy that's not OK for CBS: The staggering national debt is a major problem for our country, and citizens should demand leaders that understand the gravity of the situation and can address it properly.

Advocacy that's OK for CBS: Your peers will look down on you if you're not drinking a certain brand of artificially flavored carbonated water.
Advocacy that's not OK for CBS: A $1 trillion national deficit will create an enormous burden, not just for today's taxpayers, but for future generations of Americans.

Advocacy that's OK for CBS: You will not satisfy your lover unless you take a certain pharmaceutical drug to make your penis hard.
Advocacy that's not OK for CBS: Our current elected leaders -- actually, there's still lots of lingering doubt whether some of them were truly elected -- are exacerbating our nation's financial problems through poor social and fiscal policy.

Well, I guess we all know now what the BS in CBS stands for.

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