As far as regular Super Bowl commercials being sexist, they are. As far as the networks ignoring half their fanbase or reducing them to nags, they do. However, a lot of female football fans find these humorous as well. If it alienated half of their viewers their numbers would decline, not increase as they do every year. People like it.
it's always a double standard with women. If the number of women sports fans declines (which please show me some facts that they are increasing) then people would say "see women don't like sports, so who cares if we sell ad time to companies that objectify and stereotype them, they're not watching!"
if the number of female fans increases then people say "See women like these ads because our female fan numbers are increasing!"
it doesnt matter who likes them. it matters because the media is a powerful tool. and it's not just smart people who know the female experience is made up of more than hot women in lingerie selling beer or the naggy girlfriend that men have to run away from, who are watching these commercials. It's young people, women and men. and we're pretty much saying it's OK to say that we are a culture that degrades it's women/relationships/gender roles, that it's ok to promote alcohol abuse over healthy partnerships between people, over communication. Not surprisingly, alcohol is involved in a high number of domestic violence cases.
All that shit represents our culture to our young people.
I'm not saying our media can't explore gender humor or stereotypes. But let's do it in a smart way.
And as female fan who has written the NFL and college organizations multiple times about the kinds of commercials they choose to air during their games - i have never received a response back. Not once.
So now you have these commercials that say to women "Look you have to be super hot(and white) and not talk if you want to be valued in our society, but dont pregnant, because if you do and you decide to have an abortion, the NFL is going to lose out on a great quarterback"
fuck playing devil's advocate on a bullshit topic.
in the words of john lennon:
Woman is the Ni**er of the World
Edit:
And it's bullshit that as a human being that has participated in sports almost all her life, whether that be through being a fan or through actively playing sports, my gender's interest and involvement in sports is questioned every time we have a problem with being misrepresented or underrepresented.
The history of women in sports in America is so immense and impressive yet constantly being swept under the rug it's ridiculous. And all because advertisers and companies want to sell an uber-date-rape-masculine ideal to men and women. Many of whom buy into it!
