With less than two weeks away until “the big game,” we’re already talking about those fancy, well done, creative Super Bowl TV commercials. And not one has aired yet.
So far two spots that haven’t even hit American TV airwaves have been causing a ruckus among people…
1) A gay dating site called ManCrush submitted a spot having two men watching the game end up in a full, passionate embrace (story)
2) A spot featuring former Florida QB Tim Tebow on abortion from an organization called Focus on the Family. (story)
Ahh, the days when TV was so innocent...
Neither of these commercials have even made it to air or been made available to the public, yet the story is the talk of numerous news stories across all mediums, and especially online in blogs.
You know, I think I’d rather create a TV spot and NOT have CBS air it.
Look at the amount of free publicity these companies are getting and look how much their message is getting spread around!
Sure, we’ll see the regulars such as Budweiser, Go Daddy and other big names with their well written TV spots that they hope we’ll be talking about Monday morning around the proverbial water cooler.
But the two commercials under debate were able to get even more ground thanks to everything being all up in arms about it, days before they even air…if they even do.
Is this an example of the future of media? What is worth more… the $2.5 million you’ll shell out to have your 30 second message air that night on CBS, or having CBS debate your spot and having that message spread around the media and the internet, without even paying a penny to CBS?
The big media outlets hold onto their belief that they are the gatekeepers for getting a message out to the masses and spreading the good news of an organization to all of us.
I think CBS, without even thinking about it, is making a case that their strongest sales pitch doesn’t hold true anymore.
Well done guys. 
To keep the NFL happy… the term “Super Bowl” is trademarked by the National Football League and is used in this post for journalistic purposes, only. Now keep your attorneys away, please.
