More on Tim Tebow
Does a Super Bowl ad about abortion go too far?
CBS has stirred up some controversy with its decision to air a pro life commercial in the Super Bowl featuring college football star Tim Tebow. In the spot, the Heisman trophy winner and his mother discuss her decision to forgo an abortion, despite medical warnings from doctors, and instead give birth to a child that turned out to be Tim. A coalition of women’s organizations have called on CBS to pull the add claiming that the Super Bowl is not the appropriate venue to debate such a divisive topic. Erin Matson, vice president of the National Organization for Women comments that:
The abortion debate has no place in the Super Bowl. I organize abortion rights rallies all the time and I recognize how inappropriate it would be for me to sit in the stands with signs at the Super Bowl.
While Matson’s argument makes some intuitive sense, she draws a false analogy in comparing the behavior of fans in the stands to the content of the commercials shown on TV. It would indeed be inappropriate if a group staged an abortion rally in the stadium, but it would also seem out of place if people showed up to a taping of Saturday Night Live with cardboard signs protesting health care reform. It makes little sense to use the type of behavior that is acceptable inside a stadium, or in a television studio, as the guide as to the sorts of television advertisements that should be permitted.
Those in favor of banning the ad also argue that sports are meant to unite and not divide, and that people watch the Super Bowl to get away from these ideological discussions. However, this vague argument has the potential to create a sort of chilling effect on advocacy advertisements. No one reads People magazine or watches Seinfeld to hear about abortion, but we wouldn’t want to definitively ban an ad like the Tebow commercial from being shown in these settings.
The Super Bowl should not be turned into a mere forum for heated and aggressive public debate, but this is not what the Tebow commercial does. No one is calling anyone baby killers and the ad specifically refrains from using the word abortion. CBS can allow for a few restrained advocacy ads in a four hour broadcast without turning Super Bowl Sunday into a cesspool of partisan bickering and ideological warfare. There is certainly a balance that needs to be struck but most of the arguments in favor of banning the commercial lean towards an unreasonable level of censorship.
Still, this does not mean that CBS should get a free pass on its handling of the issue. In 2004, the network refused to air a Super Bowl commercial by the United Church of Christ which showed a gay couple getting turned away from other churches. CBS says it has altered its policy on advocacy advertisements and claim they would be willing to show the UCC commercial in the Super Bowl under its new policy. Media groups should closely scrutinize the network to make sure it is being evenhanded in its evaluation of potential advertisements, especially considering its previous history of rejecting spots that could be seen as more liberal. There is nothing inherently wrong with showing a fairly subdued commercial such as one featuring Tebow so long as CBS stays faithful to its pledge to be unbiased in its airing of advocacy advertisements.
-Luke
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- Ethics 101
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