Super Bowl Ads – The Controversies Continue

Beyond the issue of Superbowl ad substitutions impacting Canadian society – there is still a constant controversy when it comes to the Superbowl: sexist Superbowl ads.

http://adage.com/article/special-report-super-bowl/super-bowl-where-women-ads-metoo/311907/

The above article highlights this issue as it takes into consideration how the Superbowl, being one of the highest watched sports games of the year plays a huge influence in the way it communicates about gender stereotypes. Over the years the Superbowl has received a lot of negative attention for its sexist ads but I believe this year people will be or at least should be watching even more intensely because of the rise of the #metoo campaign and sexual assault allegations blasted across Hollywood.

The article does highlight that although the Superbowl has improved its ads by thankfully no longer having: ” woman seductively eating a cheeseburger or … exploiting women as sex objects for decades to peddle cars, beer and snacks” – it still has a long way to go since the representation of women on screen is either in a stereotypical or background role.  For instance, last year men received 2.5 times more leading roles then females. It was said that a major reason for this is the lack of female creators behind these ads. However,  if a major company like Bell is complaining about losing money because of the ban on ad substitution – clearly Superbowl ads are a big deal and women and even minority groups should have better representation.

Here is a list of the most sexist Super Bowl Ads in history: http://adage.com/article/special-report-super-bowl/most-sexist-super-bowl-ads/311835/

 

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