The Superbowl is today, which means it’s time for everyone to watch someone who lip-synced the national anthem at a recent presidential inauguration perform live, while corporations vie to show the most controversial commercials allowable by law!
So here are 3 of these commercials that have been causing controversy over the past week:
1. Go Daddy. A “super-nerd” makes out with a “supermodel.” Yeah, this may be controversial if it happened in a 1980s teen-comedy featuring nerds, like say
Revenge Of the Nerds. Otherwise, we have to assume it’s just another day at the Pinterest headquarters.
2. Volkswagen ad featuring people of various ethnicities talking in Jamaican accents. The Huffington Post reports that the Jamaican government endorses the ad, and notes that people of various ethnicities speak with the accent in Jamaica. So case closed, Mon! Everyone feel free to drive their Passats directly to Jamaica!
3. Coca-Cola ad showing Arab man in desert walking a camel. The ad then shows that some sort of Cannonball Run-like race is happening in the undisclosed desert, also featuring a bus of Las Vegas showgirls, a cowboy, and a bunch of post-apocalyptic bikers.
However unlike the real Cannonball Run featuring Jamie Farr as a wealthy Arab, in this race, the Arab is not given a chance to win the race. Because viewers can vote online for who should win, but there is no option to vote for the Arab.
We can see how this one is actually problematic, however on the bright side, at least the camel isn’t encouraging people to smoke, like the once-popular-and-legal Joe Camel. And so, to the camel, we quote another former cigarette slogan “You’ve come a long way, baby.“
