http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2pgSuhzOCo

I didn't even watch the superbowl. I don't see how my life would be any better if I started caring about professional sports? If the sports team in my town wins a game against the sports team in your town...in what universe does that make any difference in the world?

I'd rather watch kids play little league baseball (pop warner football, whatever). I'd rather watch SOMEBODY ELSE'S kids, playing a game they want to play, than watch a bunch of overpaid deadweights. Major league sports do so little good in the world relative to the amount of money and mindshare they suck up.

Imagine a world where there were no teachers. Or, no police. No doctors. No writers. No postmen or no garbagemen, no plumbers or store clerks. Remove any of these groups and you get a hole, a need that's not being filled.

Now imagine a world where there were no professional sports. Would there be no entertainment? Seriously, would there be no heroes for kids to aspire to if they didn't have Tiger Woods?

Wouldn't it be better if they had to choose from people who contribute to the good of the world when looking for heroes?

Where's the satire?

Seems like straightforward sexism to me. The ad feeds off the stereotype of the controlling wife, implicitly berating men who would do anything but watch the game on TV.

Ridicule isn't the same thing as satire. (Fans of Rush Limbaugh take note.)

Maybe you guys should take your own advice and not read the blog if it offends you so much?

Good luck in life, you will need it!

here's the thing... these ads reflect and influence our collective consciousness. and the more we are bombarded with images like these, the more we--men and women both--begin to internalize that it is ok for men to treat women as nagging harpies who make them take out the recycling and aren't worth as much as a set of tires. so even if i didn't watch the superbowl and never saw the ads, my life is still affected by the way I am treated and viewed by men. And if these ads are even a little bit increasing the sexism I encounter in my life, then "just not watching them" isn't really going to help me much.

But people like you have a very important role too. To continue going, "but it's funny, and harmless", "you're being ridiculous and un-American by having a problem with it". The country might actually be going uphill a lot faster if we were doing it without the hindrance of thinking like yours.

Then there was the darkness of their skins -- just because _some_ black people have dark skins doesn't mean they _all_ do. Isn't it time we did away with that outmoded stereotype?

This article is just venting, not instructing and not persuading. If you have your own blog, that's one of the benefits, of course, but it could be employed more usefully, I think. It uses the same techniques the ads used to leverage stereotypes to make various points. The only difference is the air of moral superiority -- the ads just want to sell, Hess wants not only agreement but a pound of flesh, as well.

Assuming you're not trapped in the classic cycle of abuse (in which case, there are resources to help you and I hope you will consider using them) - why are you settling for a relationship that hurts you so much and gives you so little? I know we've all been fed the idea that marriage is SUPPOSED to suck, because women are SUPPOSED to be evil and controlling and men are SUPPOSED to bow to their every whim - but guys, we make our own reality. It doesn't have to be that way. I promise you, there are lots of women in the world who won't treat you like crap.

I hear guys complaining about how girls always go for the ***holes, but in the same breath they complain about how their partners mistreat them. Please stop expecting to be treated like crap. It is a demonstrable falsehood that "every woman in the world" is a nagging harpy who doesn't care about your needs and feelings. I can say that because I'm a married woman, I've been with my husband for five years, and we treat each other like two decent human beings should treat each other. We have our own lives, we don't control each other, and we don't abuse each other. And I know we're not an isolated case because I can look at my friends and my family and see dozens of happy couples who listen and support one another and don't live out their lives in silent desperation.

Are there cruel, abusive, controlling women out there? Of course. A lot of them. Do you have to submit your lives to their domination? No. And assuming you don't enjoy getting kicked around, I have to conclude that the only benefit you would get from such a relationship is sex. Is sex worth a lifetime of this kind of pain and frustration? If you've decided it is, then you've made your own bed. But if your dignity and happiness are worth more to you than the complacency of a steady sex partner who makes you miserable, maybe you can look a little further beyond your current prospects and realize that there are good women out there who are looking for good men to be involved with. Hell, there are even decent women looking for decent men to sleep with for a night, if that's all you're looking for.

Every time you get involved with someone as a partner or potential partner, you're putting yourself at the risk of getting hurt or finding out that the person is not right for you. That's life. We all deal with it, men and women both. We've all been burned. If you choose to settle rather than risk getting burned again, that's your choice as an adult. You can't blame anyone but yourself for making that choice.

There are many women who are harpies, just as there are many men who are sex-desirous wolves. The key isn't to subscribe to stereotypes or social dictations as to what you should think or do, but to find someone you are happy with, and who is happy with you, without having to compromise either of your souls.

However, the rest of the article was great. The commercials were sexist to both men and women. Personally, as a woman, I'm used to the GoDaddy.com mentality. But for men, you guys were really made to be big wimps. Complaining about carrying lip balm? I doubt you've ever even had to since it's usually his keys, wallet, etc. that find their way into my purse.

Actually, if you ever really respected a woman and listened to one, you'd know that we just want equal pay for equal work and not to live our lives with the constant threat of rape and violence. That covers most of it.

Er...I'm sorry: Satire.

Oddly enough, that's why a lot of women find themselves attracted "jerks" and "a**holes". Eventually, they get older and a little wiser.

Yup. All women want is for men to project all their hopes, fears, ideals, and insecurities onto us as though we existed as foils and receptacles for their personalities instead of as humans in our own right. That is definitely the main crux of feminism.

Sorry, guys; satire.

I'm not sure if this was intentional or not. In my fantasy, the ad boss / car company wanted to tap into some Tyler Durden manpain, but the creative department gave them Patrick Bateman instead.

In reality I expect the people making the commercial are tapping a vein of male rage so deep (the stans of the world) they think invoking serial killers is a good thing.

Either way, that ad seethes with violence. It's like the rumor that domestic calls skyrocket during the Superbowl made flesh.

Can one of you please tell me what they're satirizing? Satire is a very specific form of humor and requires that something be satirized.