When I first saw the new Miller Lite commercial with the two babes brawling half-naked in a fountain, I didn’t give it much thought. Just another commercial using half-naked beautiful women to sell beer. But a lot of ink and pixels have been spilled over it. At first, I didn’t get the big deal. Have you seen any Coors commercials lately? Half-dressed cheerleaders swaying suggestively, an innuendo about twins, bikini-clad girls jumping into a hot tub with two guys or frolicking in the snow. This is new? But I guess that the Miller ad just goes one step further.
The problem hit home when my brother told me that his 8- and 10-year-old sons complained to him that the commercial gave them bad feelings about the women. The boys have been well-formed in their consciences about treating women as objects, especially the older boy since he’s started to discover girls. As the article I’ve linked to above points out, it’s not like the commercial is airing during late-night prime time. This one—and others like it—are showing during football games. What could be more natural than a father and his sons sitting down and watching football together?
Unfortunately, the NFL and the networks have decided to pursue a different demographic and have made it impossible for fathers who care to shield their sons (and daughters) from such to easily watch the games with them.
I do have one suggestion: get a TiVO. Start watching the game on the TiVO a half hour after it’s started in real time and then just fast forward through all the commercials as they appear. By the end of the game, you’ll be all caught up in real-time. There’s even a secret code to enable the remote to skip ahead 30 seconds at a time. That way you don’t even have to see the commercials, even in fast forward. Most commercial breaks are 2 or 3 minutes, so hit skip 4 or 6 times. Easy!
