Super Bowl Ads: Majority Of Fans Surveyed OK With Tebow Ad

Majority Of Survey Respondents Feel Tebow's Super Bowl Ad Should Stay In CBS Broadcast

An HCD Research survey released yesterday reveals that 62% of respondents shown a news clip of the Focus on the Family Super Bowl spot said that it "should not be pulled" from CBS' telecast on Sunday, according to John Smallwood of the PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS. About 75% of respondents who considered themselves pro-life "indicated the Super Bowl was an appropriate platform for ads regarding social issues," while 66% of pro-choice respondents said that the game "was not an appropriate forum." Controversy surrounding the reported pro-life commercial starring former Univ. of Florida QB Tim Tebow and his mother Pam is "strictly about the dissemination of the Tebows' message and why CBS television and the NFL will alter a long-standing policy of not allowing advocacy ads during the most watched television event in America." Women's Media Center President Jehmu Greene, whose organization has publicly opposed the spot, said, "The last thing that Americans need is for CBS and the NFL telling people when and how to have a family." She added, "The Super Bowl is an event that rotates among networks. CBS is changing the playing field for other networks, as well. We don't feel the debate on choice belongs in the 30-second ad spot of the Super Bowl." Greene said that "her hope is that the NFL will step in and use its considerable clout to pressure CBS into making an about-face on the Tebow ad." She said that she "intends to remind the NFL that the issue concerns the fastest growing segment of its audience -- that 40 percent of Super Bowl viewers are women" (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 2/3).

FREE TO DO WHAT I WANT: Colts Owner Jim Irsay yesterday said of Tim Tebow, "He has a right to express himself. I never have a problem with different points of view" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 2/2). In N.Y., S.E. Cupp writes the "anti-Tebow liberal hysteria can barely be contained." What happened to "wanting our athletes to be role models?" Cupp: "How completely have we lost our bearings when a simple moral message by a football player -- a declaration that he is serious about his faith -- produces such apoplexy?" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 2/3). ESPN.com's Jemele Hill noted for an athlete in today's sports climate, "expressing an opinion often results in serious backlash," and in some cases "choosing to do what Tebow is doing might be professional suicide." Hill wrote Tebow's decision to appear in this ad "should be considered just as courageous as Muhammad Ali's decision to not enter the draft, or Tommie Smith's and John Carlos' black power salute at the 1968 summer Olympics" (ESPN.com, 2/2). However, ESPN.com's Tim Keown wrote Tebow "shouldn't be able to distance himself from the seamier aspects of Focus on the Family." He is representing the Christian group on the "biggest advertising stage in the history of man's epic quest for hyperbole." So there is "some responsibility there" (ESPN.com, 2/2).

Fujita Respects Tebow Taking Stand In TV Spot Even Though Views Differ On Subject

STAND UP WHERE YOU BELONG: In N.Y., Joe Lapointe profiles Scott Fujita under the header, "The Saints Linebacker Who Speaks His Mind." Fujita previously has "spoken out before in favor of abortion rights and gay rights," and he said, "It's just me standing up for equal rights. It's not that courageous to have an opinion if you think it's the right thing and you believe it wholeheartedly." He said that he "respected Tebow for standing up for what he believed in." Fujita: "The idea of focusing on the family -- who wouldn't agree with that? But the means of doing so, he and I might not see eye to eye all the way." Fujita also discussed the rejected ad from gay dating Web site ManCrunch.com, saying, "The idea of doing it at the Super Bowl is going to raise some eyebrows. Do they have the right? Absolutely. Is it going to offend some people? Absolutely" (N.Y. TIMES, 2/3).

DIFFERENT TIME, DIFFERENT PLACE: CBS' David Letterman during his opening monologue last night said, "CBS is carrying the Super Bowl this year, and there is some controversy because they have rejected a commercial featuring gay guys. It was like a gay dating thing, and two gay guys were going to be kissing in the Super Bowl commercial. CBS said, 'No dice.' I said, 'That is hypocritical. CBS runs commercials with straight guys during the Tonys'" ("Late Show," CBS, 2/2).