The Super Bowl is known for two things… football and commercials. I’m not too keen on football, but the commercials have become just as hyped up as the game itself and the halftime show, so I decided to critique Super Bowl 2015’s commercials instead. 

While this year’s Super Bowl was rife with titillating side stories (deflated balls, Katy Perry’s half time show, etc.), I tried to critique the Super Bowl based on how bad this year’s commercials were. Spoiler alert: I hated most of them.

Fail #1: Chevy Truck ad

The Chevy Colorado, or whatever-the-heck-new truck this company is slinging, decided it would be totes fun to objectify men. (I hate it when anyone mocks any gender.) Anyhow… the women all fawn over the man who has the big truck… because he’s a “bad boy” – a rebel. All the women dislike the man with the small, sensible car (double meaning, much?) because he’s the one you bring home to mom. #barf

Fail #2: The Coke Hack

#MakeItHappy? More like #MakeItCrappy … right, people?

Really, though. The Coke ad that aired was hilarious… hilariously off-point for what the company is really all about. If some Coke really spilled atop the Interwebs, it would cause everyone watching to get type two diabetes… not feel more love.

Fail #3: The GoDaddy ad

You aren’t fooling us, GoDaddy. We still remember your BS puppy ad. You do sell to small businesses, but you could do so without promoting irresponsible dog breeders in your oh-so ironic way, and exploiting women. #gohome

Fail #3: The McFail

How about McDonald‘s asks people to “pay it forward” by slapping the food out of peoples’ mouths? How about these people call their relatives and say, “I love you so much, I won’t subject you to this death food.”

—

As you can see, I got angry way more than I got happy with these ads.

What ads did you like? Am I just a total hater?

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Just when you thought fur coats were finally going out of fashion forever…

All it took was a brief coin toss on screen to undo years of animal rights organizations’ work to educate people about the fur industry.

According to The Detroit News, fur coat stores are booming with customers who want a replica of former New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath’s fur coat worn at Superbowl XLVIII.

“It has driven people to our showroom,” said Clay Campbell, who owns Wolverine Furs in Detroit and also reported a 20 percent increase in traffic to his website. “(Customers) are taking the time to find out more about what they saw on the screen, so it has been a positive for us.”

Other stores in the area have also reported a similar increase in sales and customer visits since the Seahawks and Broncos game aired on February 2nd nationwide despite backlash from activists as soon as Namath’s $3,000 coyote and white fox-trimmed coat appeared on screen.

“No matter what he spent on that eyesore, the animals who were trapped, bludgeoned, electrocuted, or skinned alive for their fur paid a lot more — the ultimate price, in fact — and viewers across the country agree that it was too high a price, as demonstrated by the outpouring of anti-fur messages that hit Twitter the second that Namath’s coat hit the screen,” said PETA, one of the most recognized anti-fur and animal rights groups in the world in a statement.

Actor and activist Ian Somerhalder responded to Namath’s wardrobe by tweeting his followers a link to remind people that due to its cruelty, furs are being dropped from stores’ inventory. QVC and Land’s End are some of the major retailers who have stopped selling any items with fur in them after watching PETA’s video on how the fur industry operates. Hopefully more people in the Detroit will take the time to watch it too. – Natalia Galbetti

This article appears courtesy of Ecorazzi

Ecorazzi covers news and gossip on celebrities and notables in support of the environment and humanitarian causes. You can follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

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image: The NY Post

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This week’s Link Love gets to the heart of the Super Bowl commercials, inspires with some V-day love, an indoor garden and a chef who knows what’s up.

Are you in the mood yet for Valentine’s Day? Let the Healthy Valentine’s Day Sex and Beauty edition help you out. [via Well and Good NYC]

The game was horrible. The commercials were slightly better than horrible. But this take on the Super Bowl commercials makes it all worth it. [via the Atlantic]

Can’t wait for spring to start your garden? Get a jump with your own indoor herb garden. [via Eat Drink Better]

What’s cuter than animals? Animals in slow motion, of course. [via the Huffington Post]

Something good out of our food porn obsession: Top chef judge Tom Colicchio is actually advocating for a healthier food system and ending hunger. Delicious. [via Grist]

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Image via the Atlantic

The post Link Love: Super Bowl Commercials + Indoor Gardening + Slo-Mo Animals appeared first on EcoSalon.

Really.

With population growth, industrialization and limited resources, access to freshwater has become a crisis. 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water – that’s more than one out of six people. Every 20 seconds a child dies from a water-related illness. Water is such an issue that it is a key component in achieving the United Nation’s Millenium Development Goals.

These statistics are hard to grapple with, but for perspective, consider that this past weekend, a 30-second advertising spot during the Super Bowl ran for $3.5 million.

According to Water.org, the same amount of money it took to bring you a baby being catapulted to a bag of Doritos, could have been used to get 140,000 people water for life. For every 30 seconds of advertising, you could give hundreds of thousands of people around the world access to the one of the essential items that you need to survive.

Diverting Super Bowl advertising dollars to the water crisis may not be a viable solution, but it’s a start. Instead of being captivated by flashy cars and beer, imagine if just a percentage of those advertising budgets went to solving global problems instead of funding a vicious consumer cycle focused on buying more. One can dream.

Images: AngieSix [top left], hdptcar [right]

The post Just 1 Super Bowl Ad Could Give 140,000 People Water for Life appeared first on EcoSalon.

National Super Bowl ads have been universally fun or relatable through the years, making up for their glib materialism with some entertainment value and giving fans of pop culture but not the sport a reason to watch. Cute frogs croaked for beer (“Bud-wei-ser!”) and babies sang off-key (eTrade) in memorable campaigns.

But this year, CBS and the Super Bowl – which drew more than 95 million viewers in 2009 – are kicking up political dust allowing an anti-abortion ad in the national broadcast. The first religious-political ad CBS has approved to air in the entire history of the Super Bowl hails from the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family.

It features Pam Tebow, who recounts her decision to carry a pregnancy to term, against the advice of doctors who feared for her life and recommended an abortion. By her side is thankful son Tim Tebow, Florida Gators quarterback and Heisman trophy winner. The privilege of airing the ad cost Focus on the Family an estimated $2.5 million media buy, plus more to produce it.

Debate has been raging in the blogosphere. Is Tebow too controversial to get drafted now? What’s appropriate for broadcast during the Super Bowl? Should American women have the right to choose? And with teen pregnancy and teen abortions on the rise, shouldn’t we be focused on improving sex education, first?

No matter where you stand on such matters, or whether you’re one of more than 35 million women over the age of 18 likely to watch the Super Bowl this year (according to Nielsen research), it’s hard not to think of the positive human or environmental impact that a couple million dollars could have made, if redirected to help the already-born children of Haiti, for example.

Finally, there’s another question the anti-abortion movement raises, constantly, and again with this ad: should women be encouraged to have kids at all costs, when overpopulation is wreaking havoc in the form of air, water and noise pollution, loss of species and habitat, and a low life expectancy for humans where you find the fastest growing populations?

BASIC READING:

“Although people no longer talk about a catastrophic ‘population bomb,’ world population continues to grow. Unfortunately, the most affected countries are also the ones least able to support more people.” – Interactive feature on the environmental and social costs of over-population at National Geographic

“Do we really want to start seeing anti-abortion”¦messages on Super Bowl Sunday? Do you know what [this sports blogger] doesn’t want to see? “˜Issue-oriented’ ads. It’s Super Bowl Sunday. The only issue I want to deal with is replenishing the queso dip. Are you listening Tim Tebow?” – A blog post by Jeff Schulz for Atlanta Journal Constitution

“Tebow and his mom’s Super Bowl ad”¦will tell America how [Ms. Tebow] was young and not sure she wanted a baby, but then she had Tim who’s now a star about to make gobs and gobs of money… Ergo, you’d be crazy to consider an abortion, ladies, and gents and those not of child-bearing age, don’t even think about supporting a woman’s right to choose, because how could you choose not to gestate and give life to a person as successful and handsome as Tim Tebow?” – A blog post by Elizabeth Gettelman for Mother Jones

FURTHER RESOURCES:

An Associated Press article about Pepsi’s decision not to advertise in the Super Bowl 2010, unrelated to Tebow

A conservative opinion-editorial piece by Jan Crawford for CBS News online about her reaction to the network’s decision to air a pro-life, or anti-choice ad during the Super Bowl 2010

A blog maintained by researcher Richard Heinberg that frequently discusses the impact of overpopulation on the environment and related topics

Overpopulation.org, a website with scientific and historical data on overpopulation, maintained by researchers and activists who seek to improve the environment by curbing overpopulation

A news feature by Nena Carpenter for Helium on the links between various environmental issues and overpopulation

“It appears that Americans have completely forgotten about the profoundly dangerous relationships between overpopulation, resource depletion, environmental degradation, and our standard of living.” – A letter to the editor of Chicago’s Daily Herald by Jim Peterson

This is the latest installment of EcoMeme, a column featuring eco news, trends and tech highlights by Lora Kolodny.

Image: Landshark Stadium, where Superbowl 2010 will be played, by Chris Acuña

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