Vault: Super Bowl Commercials Controversy

Summary

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The Bert Show – Vault: Super Bowl Commercials Controversy

Date: June 17, 2026
Episode Theme:
A lively and candid discussion about CBS’s controversial decisions regarding two Super Bowl commercials: one from the anti-abortion group Focus on the Family featuring Tim Tebow and his mother, and another from the gay dating site Mancrunch.com. The episode delves into issues of censorship, parental concerns, LGBTQ+ representation in media, corporate standards, and societal double standards in televised advertising.

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Main Discussion: Super Bowl LV Commercial Controversy

Overview and Context

• Super Bowl Commercials as Cultural Touchstones:
  The Bert Show explores how Super Bowl Sunday isn’t just about football—it's a major moment for advertisers to reach millions, leading to debates whenever controversial ads appear.
• CBS’s Key Decisions:
  • Allowed: Focus on the Family’s anti-abortion ad with Tim Tebow and his mom.
  • Rejected: Mancrunch.com’s ad depicting two men making out.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Breakdown of the Commercials & Decisions

• Focus on the Family Ad:

  • Features Tim Tebow and his mom discussing her decision not to terminate her pregnancy despite medical advice.
  • Seen by some as an anti-abortion statement, but more “family-oriented” by CBS standards.
  • Host (likely Bert):

    “The commercial is essentially Tim Tebow and his mom… She chose to keep the baby. The baby turned out to be Tim Tebow.” (01:30)

• Mancrunch.com Ad:

  • A humorous spot featuring two male football fans—one in a Packers jersey, one in Vikings attire—whose hands touch over chips, then they begin making out, shocking a third man.
  • CBS rejected this, claiming it didn’t meet network standards.
  • Host (likely Bert):

    “CBS has made a decision on both of those commercials… Focus on the Family commercial will run on Sunday… the mancrunch.com commercial will not run.” (03:28)

2. Should Sexuality Be in Super Bowl Ads At All?

• Many hosts and callers, regardless of their personal views, express discomfort with having “adult topics” during a family event.
• Host (likely Bert):

  “As a parent, I don’t want either one of them to run. I want to watch my Super Bowl with my seven-year-old and I don’t want there to be any controversy to where I’m forced into a very adult conversation.” (06:19)

• Callers and hosts agree parents should have control over when and how they handle complex social or sexual topics with their kids.

3. Double Standards in Advertising

• The panel brings up previous Super Bowl ads featuring two women making out (e.g., infamous Miller Lite/pillow fight commercials)—noting they aired without issue.
• Co-host (possibly Jeff) and Guests:

  “There’s one ad where the theme was, we’re going to show you a bunch of images that have nothing to do with drinking beer, but you’ll pay attention… it was just gratuitous guy images.” (05:03)

• Several times, hosts note how CBS and others seem more tolerant of sexualization, even same-sex, when it’s perceived as male-pleasing “eye candy,” but balk at depicting same-sex male affection.
• Co-host (possibly Jeff):

  “If you try to put sexual images out there, then you gotta let everybody be able to have that opportunity... it was not apples to apples.” (05:43)

4. Network Standards and Transparency

• Frustration is voiced over CBS’s opaque criteria for acceptance/rejection.
• Co-host (possibly Jeff):

  “If it doesn’t meet your standards, then give all the advertisers a list of those standards… I think is a little shady.” (08:02)

5. Societal Readiness and Representation

• Discussion about society’s discomfort with gay male affection onscreen versus heterosexual or lesbian affection.

• Co-host or Guest:

  “I miss the days when you could just count on seeing Janet Jackson's right boob. And that was it, you know.” (08:31)

• The group touches on recent pop culture incidents (Adam Lambert making out with a man at an award show) and hypothesizes about behind-the-scenes business pressures from conservative advertisers and lobby groups influencing decisions.

• Co-host or Guest:

  “It's all backdoor politics… these lobby groups influence maybe these conservative companies who are big advertisers… it's a business decision.” (10:54)

6. Parental Responsibility vs. Media Responsibility

• Callers and hosts repeatedly assert that sexuality—no matter the orientation—should be a parent’s job to explain, and the Super Bowl should be “safe”/kid-friendly.
• Caller – Lakeisha (African American lesbian woman):

  “Regardless as to what my sex, regardless or orientation is…the fact still remains is that sex is something that should be discussed between two parents and not something that you should have to discuss during a show.” (12:02)

7. Consistency and Cultural Values

• The entire conversation repeatedly circles back to a call for consistency: if certain expressions of sexuality are disallowed, all should be, regardless of the gender or orientation of those depicted.
• Co-host (possibly Jeff):

  “If parents are going to be in an uproar about this ad that was rejected by CBS and say that's a good decision, then you should be consistent in demanding CBS take them all down.” (12:52)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Host (likely Bert):

  “I’m gonna put both commercials in the same group here. These conversations I’m gonna have with my children eventually. But I would like to have them on my own time.” (09:09)

• Co-host or Guest:

  “Are you a show for adult male… or is it a kid friendly game? And CBS has to take a different approach to their commercials.” (10:17)

• Co-host or Guest:

  “I think they would have rejected [the Mancrunch ad] anyway… I think we’re still as a society shocked to see two guys be affectionate with each other.” (11:51)

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Key Timestamps

• [01:30] – Overview of the Focus on the Family and Mancrunch.com commercials
• [03:28] – Details of the Mancrunch.com ad as described by the hosts
• [05:03] – Discussion of precedent (lesbian-leaning Miller Lite ads)
• [06:19] – Parental perspective on inappropriate content in Super Bowl ads
• [08:02] – Call for transparency and network advertising standards
• [09:09] – Host’s wish to control the timing of tough conversations with children
• [12:02] – Caller Lakeisha’s heartfelt statement on parental roles in discussing sexuality
• [12:52] – Demand for consistency in CBS’s ad standards

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Takeaways

• The core debate isn’t so much about any single commercial, but about who decides what’s appropriate for “family viewing,” and whether network decisions are fair or reflect broader social biases.
• The issue of double standards (heterosexual/lesbian versus gay male displays) is highlighted as symptomatic of lingering societal discomfort with LGBTQ+ visibility, especially in mainstream settings like the Super Bowl.
• Both the hosts’ and listeners’ voices—regardless of political or social leanings—tend to agree that parents, not advertisers or networks, should navigate complex adult topics with their kids.
• The episode serves as a microcosm of broader media, business, and cultural tensions over visibility, representation, and responsibility in high-profile televised events.

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Transcript

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[Host (likely Burt)]

The Bird show Sunday is a Super Bowl Sunday. A whole bunch of us gonna be watching on tv no doubt, right? And CBS has made two decisions regarding controversial commercials. It is set in stone. Now the first one we've been talking about for weeks and this is the one that comes from Focus on the Family and it is specifically an anti abortionist commercial which essentially, as I understand it, is Tim Tebow and his mom sitting in front of a camera and Thibaut's mom talks about when she was pregnant back in the day she was in the Philippines and she got sick and she had to take some antibiotics and some medicines and the doctors suggested to her that she should terminate the Pregnancy. She didn't. She chose to keep the baby. The baby turned out to be Tim Tebow,

[Co-host (possibly Jeff)]

one of the greatest college quarterbacks of all time.

[Host (likely Burt)]

So point taken. The second commercial that CBS had to chew on this week came from mancrunch.com which is a gay dating website. And I'll. I'll play the commercial for you. It's two guys sitting on a couch. One is in a Green Bay packers jersey. The other one is in a Minnesota Vikings jersey. And they're watching the game together. And in between the two of them and is a bowl of potato chips that both their hands will accidentally brush about midway through the commercial and they start making out.

[Caller - Lakeisha]

10.

[Caller - Chris]

5.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

That's what I'm talking about, baby.

[Host (likely Burt)]

You suck.

[Bretzky]

Yeah,

[Host (likely Burt)]

I want to kill. So the brush happens. One of the dudes in the jerseys just jumps on the other dude and they just start making out.

[Co-host (possibly Jeff)]

There's another guy in the chair just

[Host (likely Burt)]

staring at him, right? There's a third guy that pops into the frame and he's like, what is going on here? So CBS has made a decision on both of those commercials. Actually, the Focus on the Family commercial will run on Sunday. While you're watching the Super bowl, the mancrunch.com commercial will not run.

[Co-host (possibly Jeff)]

Mm.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

And I'm very interested to hear their reasoning for the man dating one not running.

[Host (likely Burt)]

CBS rejected the commercial, saying it didn't meet network standards. The ad features a Packers fan, which I told you about, in a Vikings fan. Taunting one in each other sends sparks. Blah, blah, blah. CBS deliberately deliberated almost two weeks before announcing it was rejecting the ad. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation president released a statement saying that there seemed to be a homophobic double standard in the network's decision, calling it a problem when they do something like this at the same time as they allow an anti gay group like Focus on the Family to place ads during the Super Bowl. It has also been referred to. Do you remember a couple of years ago during the super bowl, there was a commercial where two girls got into an argument and by the end of the commercial, they were making out with each other also or they were wrestling with each other as well.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

That was the. Was it Miller Lite where they. It was. Was it the one that was the gratuitous.

[Co-host (possibly Jeff)]

Okay, I barely remember that one. They had a bunch of them during that show.

[Host (likely Burt)]

Just right.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

There's one ad where the theme was, we're going to show you a bunch of images that have nothing to do with drinking beer, but you'll pay attention. To this commercial. And it was like two hot girls, they end up in a fight, they fall into a water fountain, they have a pillow fight, whatever happens. And then at the end, it just zooms in on a can of light. And it was just gratuitous guy images.

[Host (likely Burt)]

So basically what the network is saying is this. It's their decision. They look at these at a commercial by commercial basis. And what they're saying here is they rejected it again. They. Because of network standards making out.

[Co-host (possibly Jeff)]

That's why they, they did away with it. But I'm curious also the. That GoDaddy.com didn't they have one rejected by CBS as well for the Super Bowl? Because. Because there's a part of me that. Because I don't know which spot that is and what it has in it. But if they talk about like sexuality and that kind of thing not being in their spots, it's like Jeff said, I mean, like there, you just have to be consistent. If you, if you try to put sexual images out there, then you gotta let everybody be able to have that opportunity. If you don't, then you don. Because these commercials really don't have anything to do with each other. You know, so I can see why they didn't compare. You know, it was not apples to apples.

[Host (likely Burt)]

I can be totally and completely honest with you, and I know I'll get some emails about this, but as a parent, I don't want either one of them to run. I want to watch my super bowl and I want to watch it with my 7 year old. And I don't want there to be any kind of controversy whatsoever to where I'm forced into a very adult conversation during the Super Bowl.

[Co-host (possibly Jeff)]

His kids are gonna ask questions and

[Host (likely Burt)]

I would probably say, you know what, I'd probably say the same thing about the two girls making out with each other a couple of years ago as well. I just don't want, I don't wanna have to deal with it as a parent.

[Co-host (possibly Jeff)]

Now. What about a straight, I mean, just a straight couple that's making out? You know, like, let's say it's just as gratuitous, but it's the guy and a girl jumping on each other on a couch, making out after they brush hands with the chips.

[Host (likely Burt)]

I mean, honestly, that's not as controversial. I'd say, go ahead.

[Co-host (possibly Jeff)]

And that'd be nothing that your kids would ask about.

[Host (likely Burt)]

No.

[Lady Luck]

Mm.

[Host (likely Burt)]

Good morning, Chris. You're on Q100. Hi.

[Caller - Chris]

Hey, how are you? Hey, listen, I saw that commercial and I read a little bit about it. And, you know, I'm, I think the gay rights advocates are trying to make a point that, you know, they're being shunned. But I just wonder if the decision would have been different had the creators of the commercial just decided not to show them making out. I think that's where a lot of people get offended. And I'm with you. I, I'm sitting there, I'm going to watch a game with my 14 year old. I wouldn't want to watch two women making out and someone else made the point about a husband and wife or somebody, a man and a woman. I don't know. Is that different? Is it double standard? I think it reflects a lot in our society. But two guys making out, I think is over the top. But I don't think a commercial advocating gay rights, even between two men in the dating side is all that bad. I think it's maybe the approach and the way they're trying to get the message across versus message itself. I don't know if that makes sense.

[Co-host (possibly Jeff)]

You know, I guess my only, my only issue with cbs, I said this last week and I said even before we talked about, you know, the gay dating, you know, commercial we were talking about, the Tim Tebow commercial is just if it doesn't meet your standards, then give all the advertisers a list of those standards and let them know exactly what you, you know, like the requirements of a commercial for the Super Bowl. Let everybody have a chance to promote their product in the way CBS wants. But this whole, well, it doesn't meet our standards, but nobody knows what our standards is, I think is a little shady.

[Host (likely Burt)]

Agreed. Agreed.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

I miss the days when you could just count on seeing Janet Jackson's right boob. And that was it, you know.

[Host (likely Burt)]

Hey, Christian, good morning. You're on the Burt Show. Good morning, guys.

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[Caller]

Yeah, I just wanted to say that I think that you should be able to sit down and watch a football game with your child. I have a 13 year old daughter who, you know, I have to pause during football games because of all the sexuality that is going on with the commercials, Whether it be straight sexuality, homosexuality, any type of sexuality in these commercials that I don't want her to see again.

[Host (likely Burt)]

I'm gonna put both commercials in the same group here. And these conversations I'm gonna have with my children eventually. But I would like to have them on my own time. And I don't want it during the Super Bowl. I don't want to have to explain when Hayden says to me, what does terminate A baby. Mean, I don't want to have that conversation during the Super Bowl.

[Caller]

Exactly. And I agree, you know, but. But why should I have to pause my tv, you know, during a football game, you know, to go through the commercials? Because I don't want to have to sit there and explain it to my child during a football game there.

[Host (likely Burt)]

I think that there are some TV shows that you should be able to sit down with and they should be truly kid friendly. And I think the super bowl, if you're watching a football game with your kid, I think that should be kid friendly. There are TV shows on television that I know that adults watch with their kids that are in that gray area where they're talking about very adult situations. And if a commercial like this runs during a show like that, then, look, I'm sitting down with my kid during a show like that, so I can expect the commercial to reflect the show. And in this case, I just think it's two different things, two different genres.

[Co-host (possibly Jeff)]

Well, I think CBS has been in an odd position for a long time because I think they still think that their super bowl is geared toward adult guys. And, you know, and parents are always. I think the big parent issue came when, like Jeff mentioned the Janet Jackson thing. But it is, you know, you have all the. One of the primary advertisers is the beer commercials. And I mean, you know, if you. It's the whole thing about consistency. Again, are you a show for adult male. And everybody needs to know that so that when their kids watch, they have to be careful. Or is it a kid friendly game? And CBS has to take a different approach to their commercials.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

I wonder if Adam Lambert is the reason that CBS isn't airing that commercial. Remember the grief that he got at the. I forgot what the award show was. But at the end when he made out with the dude and all these groups and whatever. And so, you know, because it's all backdoor politics, you know, all this stuff happens behind the scenes now that I'm a TV insider. I know, but you know what I mean, What I'm imagining is these groups, these lobby groups who influence maybe these conservative companies who are big advertisers, whoever they sit down with, you know, Mr. CBS and go, look, we didn't like that. How do we fix it? Blah, blah, blah. And it's a business decision where CBS is like, we can't risk it. We had advertisers upset with us for the decision for what happened at that award show because, I mean, they claim that they didn't know he was gonna do that. So what happened at that award show? Now we have to be extra careful with what we're gonna do going forward. So we don't have a choice but to reject this.

[Co-host (possibly Jeff)]

I think they would have rejected it anyway. I don't think Adam language had anything to do with it because I think we're still as a society shocked to see two guys be affectionate with each other.

[Host (likely Burt)]

Hey, Lakeisha, Good Morning. You're on Q100.

[Caller - Lakeisha]

Good morning, guys. My name is Lakeisha and I am an African American lesbian woman. And I feel that regardless as to what my sex, regardless or orientation is or regardless as to what a heterosexual couple or a homosexual couple is, the fact still remains is that sex is something that should be discussed between two parents and not something that you should have to discuss during a show. So that being said, I don't think that it should be male and male, male and female, or even female and female. Respect is respect. Leave it up to the parents. We have so many teenagers and young children out being so sexual and unfortunately their parents are so clueless about it because they're leaving it up to society to educate their children on what sexual choices should be.

[Co-host (possibly Jeff)]

And I think that's a great point. But it's about that consistency again. And I think that, you know, they think that the two females, that's fine because guys like that and the sex is good because guys like that, you know, like. So if parents are going to be in an uproar about this ad that was rejected by CBS and say that's a good decision, then you should be consistent and in demanding CBS take them all down. Agreed.

[Host (likely Burt)]

As it stands now, the one from focus on the family will run and the man crunch will not run. On Sunday, the Birch Show.

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