More on Bob Parsons and the Super Bowl
Last night, I posted about Bob Parson's thoughts on advertising on the Super Bowl again. However, in my excerpts, I didn't post some of Bob's thoughts about the supposed family nature of the Super Bowl:
Now here’s why I think the NFL is making a big mistake by trying to make the SuperBowl a family event. In short, it’s because we as a people want certain things to be reserved for adults, instead of the entire family....
I personally believe that it’s a mistake to make the SuperBowl a family event. To me, that makes about as much sense as making Desperate Housewives a family show. That’s not why viewers watch these shows (and like it or not the SuperBowl is a TV show). They watch them for adult level entertainment.
I’m not saying that the SuperBowl should be pornographic. In fact, no show on network TV should even approach that. However, there was nothing wrong with the old, and maybe gone forever commercials, like the flatulent horse and crotch biting dog, that gave all of us a good laugh. And there was nothing whatsoever wrong with Go Daddy's SuperBowl commercial....
When we have SuperBowl parties, the get togethers are for the adults – not the kids. During those parties that I’ve been to where kids also come along with their parents, there’s always been a separate TV provided for the kids that has either a DVD or other programming appropriate and interesting to a child.
I personally would like to see the SuperBowl get back to the way it used to be -- before Janet Jackson did the half-time show that rocked network television. I think we’d all be better for it.
I replied to these thoughts on the bobparsons.com blog comments area, and my reply has made it past the bobparsons.com censors (that's a joke, by the way).
I respectfully disagree with your assertion that the Super Bowl should not be a family event. If the NFL (or any sports league) wants to stay in business, it needs to appeal to kids, and to be acceptable to the parents of those kids. While Major League Baseball is the league that is really suffering from ignoring the young fans (bring back day games!), the NFL needs to watch its marketing to make sure that it doesn't alienate its future audience.
That having been said, it's clear that GoDaddy is suffering under a double standard. If ABC was truly concerned about the nature of your recent ads, then it wouldn't advertise Desperate Housewives during football games, would it? (And it certainly wouldn't use a Desperate Housewives star in a suggestive promo.)
Of course, the big question is - will GoDaddy laugh all the way to the bank from being effectively banned from Super Bowl advertising? On the one hand, GoDaddy still gets a large amount of publicity within its target audience from all the brouhaha. On the other hand, such publicity is miniscule compared with the publicity accorded ads that DO appear - and if GoDaddy wants everyone to have a domain, this audience cannot be ignored.
I'd suggest a parody (Candice Michelle in a floor-length long-sleeve gown, spouting financial gibberish in a monotone), but ABC would probably shoot that down too.
Regarding my comments on Major League Baseball, the Detroit Free Press has printed similar sentiments:
Major league baseball has long been known as "America's Pastime," a healthy diversion for kids of all ages. But in the interest of TV ratings and beer sales, it has become "America's Primetime" with most games now played at night.
So the All-Star Game is a pastime all right -- it goes on well past the time when many young fans can stay up to watch. And children allowed to catch all of this year's July showcase may not be so lucky on school nights in October when the World Series is telecast well after dark. Last year, some of the championship games didn't end until after 1 a.m....
Of course, baseball is not the only sport to have forsaken youngsters. Many young Piston fans -- modern-day versions of Cinderella -- could not stay up to watch the NBA playoffs, particularly those games that fell on school nights.
As baseball and other diversions have become less accessible to them, today's children have filled the entertainment vacuum with violence -- grisly and graphic movies and video games are always available on demand. In the meantime, children's advocates are criticizing the role of the media in contributing to perplexing episodes of youth crime.
Under pressure from Congress, network executives agreed to provide viewer warnings for TV programs with dangerously violent content...[and] TV manufacturers are installing V-chips in all new sets....Unfortunately, the idea of content ratings and hi-tech filtering devices misses the point entirely.
Even if parents heed the warnings and supervise their children's viewing selections, what healthy and entertaining alternatives do they have? Going to see the WWE? Or maybe listening to some gangsta rap? How about playing Grand Theft Auto or Doom on the Xbox? And there's always porn and hate on the Internet.
In order to get children to tune out violence, we must give them something better -- and just as appealing -- to tune in.
TV might consider taking its cue from the movies....[T]he popularity of films like "The Rookie" (rated G) indicates that children are drawn to sports, no matter what their rating.
So, it's not that kids have abandoned baseball. It's that baseball has abandoned the kids....
And regarding NFL unsuitability for kids, despite the NFL's well-trumpeted decisive action against Terrell Owens and Nicollette Sheridan:
This column in no way wants to justify the appearance of a naked woman on your TV screens Monday....
To pretend that NFL people are shocked - shocked - by a skit in which TV actress Nicollette Sheridan exposes herself to Terrell Owens is to presume they've never been to an NFL game and seen dozens of scantily-clad young women gyrating on the sidelines. This league sells sex all over the place.
Eagles Owner Jeffrey Lurie has presumably seen the cheerleaders calendar his team puts out, and it is so racy the Eagles Web site carries an adult advisory warning as it hawks the thing. That calendar makes Monday's naked skit look tame by comparison....
If you're looking for something you think your kids can watch safely, Monday was just another reminder that pro sports isn't it. While sport is a pure and beautiful thing, pro sports these days are a routinely ugly and perverse showcase for all kinds of bizarre behavior.
Pro sports has no interest in your kids, except to coax them into bugging you to buy them stuff with an official logo on it.
This is what it's come to - watching pro sports is an adults-only endeavor. That doesn't mean it's a bad thing; lots of people watched that skit and loved it. It was funny, and to a great many people it was totally harmless.
Just understand what you're watching. It's a machine built to appeal to this part of us. Everybody got what they wanted, which was ratings and publicity.
But, you say, doesn't the NFL do wonderful things for youth? Doesn't NFL youth football have seven guiding principles?
1. Make It Fun
2. Limit Standing Around
3. Everyone Plays
4. Teach Every Position To Every Participant
5. Emphasize The Fundamentals
6. Incorporate A Progression Of Skill Development For Every Participant
7.Yell Encouragement, Whisper Constructive Criticism
However, I daresay that youth pay more attention to what they see on the screen than to any guiding principles. And lately, they've seen a lot of Terrell Owens (without Nicollette):
Embattled Eagles superstar Terrell Owens vowed to show up for work today in the defiant garb that made the ultimate statement at Lehigh University -- battle fatigues, headphones and sunglasses....
What he wears could signal how much he wants to stick around and earn the $3.25 million in base pay he’s due....
Owens is under intense scrutiny after being sent home for a week following a heated exchange in which he told Andy Reid to shut up. The Eagles spelled out their displeasure in a warning letter that also alluded to Owens’ fractured relationships with quarterback Donovan McNabb, whom he called a hypocrite, and offensive coordinator Brad Childress, whom he told not to speak to him....
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