Since its inception, the Super Bowl has been one of the highest-rated television programs every year.

The sheer amount of people who watch the game is so high that advertising space during the Super Bowl commands a massive premium. Out of this situation, a pseudo-art form has arisen: The Super
Bowl commercial.

Everyone remembers the big commercials. The best ones can take brands and products to a completely different level than they were before,
just ask the E*Trade babies.

The cost of these commercials are justified by the new consumers the company can reach, which is why every business wants their commercial aired during the Super Bowl.

However, not every company gets that chance.

ManCrunch.com, a gay male dating site, submitted an ad for the Super Bowl, only to have it rejected. Immediately, gay rights activists and others who felt that this was unfair stood up
to defend the company.

While the Super Bowl has traditionally been less of a soapbox, this year also saw a pro-life ad starring Tim Tebow run, upsetting
ManCrunch advocates even more.

It stands to reason that CBS had two options regarding these commercials: They could run both, or they could choose not to air either. Obviously, someone at CBS made a large mistake in choosing to air one over the other, right?

It seems that the truth is not as black-and-white as the facts present. Putting personal beliefs and convictions aside, it’s hard to argue that the commercial starring Tebow was offensive or derogatory. In all fairness, there wasn’t much of a message in the commercial, other than to visit the “Focus
On The Family” Web site.

The unaired ManCrunch.com commercial, however, could be considered offensive to some, derogatory to others, and idiotic to many. The commercial depicted two men watching a football game that both reach for the bowl of chips at the same time, only for their hands to have a chance encounter.

This leads to an over-the-top make out session (although no actual kissing is shown), and an awkward friend being caught in the room and forced to watch.

There have been plenty of stupid, offensive commercials in the past and there will be many more in the future. With that said, it’s obvious why CBS didn’t want to see the ad run during the Super Bowl.

When the “Focus On The Family” ad aired, the advocacy group did a surprisingly great job of making a classy commercial that made an attempt to reach its audience without being
too overbearing.

ManCrunch went in the opposite direction, choosing to make an over-the-top commercial in an attempt to drive traffic to its Web site and create publicity (good or bad) in any way possible.

They accomplished their mission either way, as traffic to the site has surely gone up since the ad was reported as being rejected. It appears that CBS may have done Mancrunch a favor
in spite of themselves.

The ManCrunch.com ad was nothing but a slap in the face to the gay and lesbian community that has worked so hard to gain equal treatment in a world where so many are against the lifestyle.

Instead of giving CBS a slap in the face for failing to air an ad that would have undoubtedly upset numerous people, gay or straight, maybe they deserve a pat on the back.