The Super Bowl has become more popular for its commercials. Some are memorable such as Budweiser’s “What’s Up?!” commercial. Others fails miserably. Remember Mountain Dew’s awful PuppetMonkeyBaby?
The ads space costs more for 60 seconds than the budget for many movies. So, if you have $10-20 million and want to get the word out all over the world, it’s the best place to advertise. Unfortunately, a 15-second ad for the Tubi streaming service has angered people and divided people on whether it was appropriate or not. Many people have reported that they were yelled at or blamed for changing the remote. I even heard of bartenders and waiters having drinks thrown of them, but it’s not been confirmed.
The commercial made it appear the Super Bowl was coming back from commercial break with announcers Kevin Burkhaldt and Greg Olsen and then there is menu come up at the bottom of the screen as it moved from Fox to Tubi. It was only 15 seconds long and it was very clever. Yet, a lot of people didn’t see it that way.
A woman posted on Reddit that she broke up with her boyfriend of two years after his violent behavior and anger upset her. It was probably good that she left him. She’s only in her early 20s and she got out hopefully not looking back and knowing the signs to look out for in future relationships. There was also another video of someone getting mad at a Super Bowl party when the Chiefs fieldd goal kick won them the game in the final seconds at 38-35. He throws someonething at the TV and begins punching the screen and then throwing the TV down on the ground and begins stomping on it. People around him look shocked and some try to calm him down.
Weeks ago, when the Dallas Cowboys lost during the playoffs, there were videos of people destroying TV sets and even getting into fights outside of stadiums. There was an ad years ago of many babies being conceived following the Super Bowl wins. But might I suggest next year, they look at how many ER visits increased of domestic violence? How many 911 calls were made of violence? How many people were hit, whipped, punched, shoved into the walls?
We shouldn’t blame Tubi, nor should we even blame the NFL (and they have a lot of issues). It’s just a game and a streaming service. People have been screwing up for years and changing the channel while handling the remote. Anything streaming over the Internet is bound to have a glitch or two and during the Super Bowl when millions upon millions of people are watching, it’s bound to happen. A friend of mine wanted to watch The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime months ago but when she tried to log on, a screen title card informed her too many people were watching. She had to wait and she was a little frustrated but playfully joked that people need to get off so she can watch it.
Several studies have concluded that domestic violence reports increase following sporting events. In 2011, after examining 900 NFL games over an 11-year period, it was reported that domestic violence cases increased 10 percent in areas where the teams lost. In 2013, a Lancaster University found that in northwest England, there is an increase of 38 percent of domestic violence calls from police departments when soccer teams lose. And surprising, there is a 26 percent increase when the teams win. In 2017, the University of Calgary reported a 15 percent increase of calls to a domestic violence hotline when football games are played.
We live in a society that has told people they should tolerate the behavior of men and women when sporting events don’t turn out the way they want. I’ve covered sports for 10 years and I will never do it again. There is so much ugliness and hatred. I wouldn’t doubt some players, especially at the little league and pee-wee leagues stages, probably getting beatings from their parents/legal guardians when their teams lose.
My stepfather said the football coach when he played began to start punching with closed fists other players in the locker room when the team was losing at half-time. The legal age to buy alcohol was 18, so the next Friday, they had a party with the seniors buying alcohol and inviting other football players. The likelihood that the coach was reprimanded, much less fired at the time is unlikely. Many people see it as a badge of honor to have a coach screaming at a player. I don’t. I see abuse. If you need to scream at a 14-year-old, you’re coaching abilities are the reason the team isn’t winning.
But hearing the comments from people on social media, it’s an eye-opener of people who were blamed for something that wasn’t their fault. Even worse, people were telling how they knew to remain outside or in their bedrooms whenever their fathers (and mothers) watched sporting events to stay out of their ways. People said they had to walk on eggshells or even watch what they say.
This is a growing epidemic in America if not our world where people have major anger issues. If losing a $50 bet will make people violent, than it’s not the game. People already have a violent tendecy that comes out whenever they don’t get their way. They’re getting mad at the wait staff at a restaurant for not getting their drinks too fast. They’re mad at the cashier at Wal-Mart for not scanning their items too fast. Hell, they’re mad they have to wait in line and the idea of using self-checkout infuriates them more. Add alcohol to someone who already has a short fuse about everything and it’s bound to get very ugly and very violent.
The problem is how we treat domestic abuse and domestic violence as something we shouldn’t speak about. Victims of the abuse and violence are often criticized for not getting out sooner. How’s a 10-year-old supposed to leave a violent household? Shelters don’t take household pets for legal reasons so some people risk something violent happening to their furbabies if they go into shelters. There was a report from the town I grew up in where an elementary school girl was spotted with a red swollen face from where her father reportedly hit her. This isn’t child-rearing. It’s abuse.
And then, most people are told by parents, family and friends, and especially their church and clergy, to give it another try because their abusers are seeking help and will change. It’s the same gaslighting nonsense repeated over and over. “Couples have arguments all the time, he just got a little worked up.” “He didn’t mean to shove you. It will never happen again.” “It was just a slap. It’s not like he used fist.” If they did it once, they’ll do it again.
Sometimes, they don’t need to. I heard a story of a man who got mad at his wife at a Thanksgiving dinner and later beat her up. He never laid a hand on her afterwards. It’s not that he got help from a counselor or therapist. It’s just that whenever he needed to “keep her in her place,” he would uttered two words, “Remember Thanksgiving.”
We’re so quick to defend domestic abusers because they’re so good at hiding it. Most people associate people who are obese/overweight or have facial hair or longer hair with domestic violence. We associate people who work more blue-collar jobs or dress with more street clothes attire with domestic abuse. But it’s people who make good salaries, are clean-shaven and wear nice clothes.
And it’s not always men, but women can be abusive. A good friend of mine got out of a relationship where he said his woman partner was physically abusive. And we need to quit making it a punchline in comedies, such as in Road Trip or The Hangover. Let’s have a movie where a man destroys his girlfriend’s car with a baseball bat and then begins to attack her with it and see who laughs.
And I can’t conclude this post without having to say that religion also encourages domestic abuse and violence and condones it as child-rearing or obedience. People use words from their “holy books” to justify their abuse and violence the same way they use it to excuse sexual abuse and rape.
We are long overdue for a MeToo movement or Spotlight expose on domestic violence. And like victims of rape or sexual abuse, we have blamed the victims but the tide has turned. It needs to turn for victims of domestic violence. There is no excuse for yelling at someone for the outcome of a sporting event, especially if that person has no way to affect the outcome. People of domestic abuse and violence need to come forward and start saying MeToo or something to bring attention to it. You need to realize that your parents or grandparents were abusive. There’s no reason to slap a child for “talking back.” If you think there is, there is something seriously wrong with you.
Maybe you shouldn’t be a parent. The problem isn’t the child, it’s you. I can tell you that if you’re only way of being a parent or partner is to threaten violence, then you’re definitely the problem.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 