I was disappointed in most of the Super Bowl commercials Sunday night, as I have been for years. Gone are the days of clever ads that go for big laughs, now we’re stuck with unnecessary celebrity cameos.
The only ad I saw that I actually thought was funny was a Doritos commercial where a woman is getting an ultrasound. Her husband is tactlessly eating chips in the examination room, and notices that the baby in the womb is reaching for a chip. The husband moves the chip around to get reactions from the baby, and ends up making the baby hit its head (which hurts the mother as well). She then grabs the chip and throws it, prompting the baby to launch itself out of the womb (we don’t see this part, we just see the parents screaming).
Forgive my description — it really was a humorous ad, in my opinion. I didn’t think anything of it until a few minutes later when I noticed the pro-abortion group NARAL complaining about the ad on Twitter:
#NotBuyingIt – that @Doritos ad using #antichoice tactic of humanizing fetuses & sexist tropes of dads as clueless & moms as uptight. #SB50
— NARAL (@NARAL) February 8, 2016
Really, “humanizing fetuses” is an “anti-choice” tactic? Wouldn’t want anyone to think of the being growing inside a pregnant woman as a life, now would we? The couple in the commercial clearly wanted that baby, and were pretty far along in the pregnancy.
As for the “sexist” tropes of clueless dads and uptight moms, NARAL has a point. The way women are portrayed in the media gets an exorbitant amount of attention, but little is said or done about the constant portrayal of men as bumbling dolts who wouldn’t be able to care for themselves if it weren’t for a woman.
Still, I thought it was a cute little ad that didn’t need to be analyzed to death. Some people just can’t find any joy in life.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
