The Super Bowl ad featuring Tim Tebow and his mother that caused so much angst and controversy before it aired turned out to be mild, understated and forgettable. Now we know why CBS felt it could use the spot to move away from its long-time ban on issue advertising during the NFL’s big game. We also know that the actual ad made the argument by abortion rights groups that the ad would be inappropriately “divisive” for an American sports ritual designed to bring us together seem even more ridiculous than it was—no mean trick.
In the ad, Quarterback Tebow and his mother never did tell the story of his birth after Pam Tebow had been counseled to terminate her pregnancy. You had to go to a website to read about it. Indeed, had the various advocacy groups that opposed the ad just kept their collective rage to themselves, few viewers would know about the pro-life aspects of the Tebow story. All of the ad’s work was done before it ran, thank to the pre-Super Bowl sputtering of NARAL, NOW, and their colleagues.
Having been thoroughly outsmarted, out-maneuvered and trounced in the pro/anti-abortion public relations wars, the women’s groups who led the protest against CBS had several ethical options:
1. Say nothing. (Ethical values: Self-restraint, prudence, modesty, honesty)
2. Say this: “Having finally seen the Super Bowl commercial featuring Tim Tebow and his mother, we withdraw our objections. We understand the CBS decision to run it, and applaud the Tebows and Focus on Family for their good taste and moderation regarding this very sensitive issue.” (Ethical values: respect, grace, fairness, civility, honesty.)
3. Say this: “We apologize to CBS, the Tim Tebow, his mother, and Focus on Family for our earlier criticism, which was based on misinformation. (Ethical values: accountability, humility, honesty, civility.)
Most of the groups, as well as lawyer Gloria Allred, who also had registered pre-ad objections, have taken the first option, which is fine. None, to my knowledge, have taken options 1 or 2.
Here, however, was the statement by NOW president Terry O’Neill:
“I am blown away at the celebration of the violence against women in it. That’s what comes across to me even more strongly than the anti-abortion message. I myself am a survivor of domestic violence, and I don’t find it charming. I think CBS should be ashamed of itself.”
This was dishonest, unfair, ungracious, and extremely silly. The ad shows Tebow playfully “tackling” his Mom, who shows how “tough” she is by shaking it off as she had been tickled by a feather. The sequence was obviously not real, it was obviously intended as slapstick humor, and it was obviously not a “celebration of violence against women” any more than a Warner Brothers cartoon is a celebration of violence against rabbist, ducks and coyotes. [Aside: O'Neill's comment only narrowly missed surpassing Ariana Huffington for the all-time most outrageous accusation regarding violence against women . When Huffington was running against Arnold Schwartzeneggar for governor of California, she said that Arnold's last movie, "Terminator 3," proved that he enjoyed abusing women. In that film, 1. Arnold was playing an android who was rescuing Claire Danes, the only real woman in the film, 2. the "woman" he physically attacked was also an android, and no more a real woman than he was, and 3. the android "woman" beat the tar out of him, not the other way around. No, Arianna still has the record. ]
What O’Neill demonstrated is that she, and by extension the organization she represents, doesn’t have the courage or decency to admit when she has been wrong, and prefers instead to villify those who disagree with her rather than be fair or respectful.
