By Luke T Johnson
Assistant to Editor
luketjohnson@sph.com.sg

 

IT was a surprise for those of us watching the Super Bowl at Chili's in Tanglin Mall early Monday morning to see the game complete with commercials.

Chili's had the bright idea to show, on its TVs, NFL.com's online feed, which carried with it the full slate of commercials that always create almost as much buzz as the action on the field.

The ad receiving the most pre-game attention was a purportedly pro-life spot featuring college gridiron star Tim Tebow that was paid for by conservative Christian group Focus on the Family.

There ended up being two Tebow ads — one shown before the game started and one during the first quarter, a surprise in itself.

But what was really shocking about these supposedly divisive ads was how non-controversial they were. They were, in fact, shockingly benign.

In them, we saw Mr Tebow's mother, Pam, telling viewers of her "miracle baby", Tim, who "almost didn't make it into this world". The ensuing 30 seconds show Mr Tebow and his mother expressing their love for each other — a celebration of family and life. Not exactly inflammatory stuff.

If not for the inordinate media attention given to this particular controversy, very few viewers would likely be aware of Mrs Tebow's back story, and its decidedly pro-life slant. The ads do direct viewers to go to Focus on the Family's website, which is a little more forceful in its message, to say the least.

It's hard to know if the early attention the ad received had any effect on the final product. USA Today reported that the language in the final script was toned down from what was originally planned.

The ad that ultimately aired during the game was not without its detractors, of course. It shows Mr Tebow, rather bizarrely, tackling his mother midway through her message, adding that puerile bit of slapstick seemingly required of Super Bowl ads these days.

The National Organisation of Women (Now), who had been especially vocal in calling for CBS to yank the ad before it even aired, said the final iteration of the Tebow ad glorified violence against women: "I am blown away at the celebration of the violence against women in it," Now president Terry O'Neill told the Los Angeles Times.

That's a rather laughable complaint, considering the overtly misogynistic themes that permeated many of the other ads this year. Focus on the Family's Super Bowl message, by comparison, was positively upbeat.

And they milked millions of dollars worth of free advertising out of the alleged controversy to boot. Pretty clever marketing scheme, all things considered.

As for some of the other commercials seen when the New Orleans Saints upset the Indianapolis Colts in one of the top feel-good sports stories of the decade, here are a couple that I found particularly impressive:

The Google ad was simple yet moving, telling the story through Google search queries of a young man who moves to France to study, meets a girl and starts a family. An intellectual (and emotional) step above the rest. See the full ad here.

And the Coke ad featuring many of the secondary characters from The Simpsons was a joy to watch, and worthy of multiple viewings. It packed all the charm and irreverence of a typical day in Springfield into a minute of effective advertising. See the full ad here.

Read Luke Johnson's original blog about the Super Bowl ads.