Politics and the Super Bowl; People are just weird.

The Conspiracy Theorists have had a slow idea week, eh? This is soooo weird.









What do you see?


One of the Super Bowl ads that ran tonight was an ad for the Prudential insurance company--you know, the "Get a Piece of the Rock" company.


A bizarro business columnist at the NYTimes thinks the Prudential ad guys may possibly be sending a coded message about Iraq.


Because "a rock" sounds like "Iraq." The title of the column is "Super Bowl Ads of Cartoonish Violence, Perhaps Reflecting Toll of War:"

No commercial that appeared last night during Super Bowl XLI directly addressed Iraq, unlike a patriotic spot for Budweiser beer that ran during the game two years ago. But the ongoing war seemed to linger just below the surface of many of this year’s commercials. More than a dozen spots celebrated violence in an exaggerated, cartoonlike vein that was intended to be humorous, but often came across as cruel or callous...
...Then, too, there was the unfortunate homonym at the heart of a commercial from Prudential Financial, titled “What Can a Rock Do?”
The problem with the spot, created internally at Prudential, was that whenever the announcer said, “a rock” — invoking the Prudential logo, the rock of Gibraltar — it sounded as if he were saying, yes, “Iraq.”
To be sure, sometimes “a rock” is just “a rock,” and someone who has watched the Super Bowl XIX years in a row only for the commercials may be inferring things that Madison Avenue never meant to imply.
​

Step away from the computer, dude, and give. It. A. Rest.
***
Reader Peter L. dashed off an e-mail to the Times columnist Stuart Elliott:

Are you insane? You see the Iraq war in the Super Bowl commercials??? I think your article shows YOUR obsession with the war (no need to wonder how you feel about it). Do you see the war in crossword puzzles? Your morning cereal? But let's dig deeper, shall we? I think the Bud Light commercial with the apes reflects the ongoing debate about evolution. Or maybe the one about the guy getting the ice cold Coke is a symbol of our need for coolness in this age of global warming. I'm onto something here, aren't I?
Frankly, I thought many of the ads were pretty lewd, reflecting our society's low standard of values.
Wait - let me guess: You just rolled your eyes and though, "Oh, he's one of THEM."
Right back at you.
​

Dan Riehl:

Okay, is it just me, or does it sound like the editors at the NY Times must have taped the Superbowl commercials and are now playing them backwards to distill the hidden message buried deep within?

​

Taken from Michelle Malkin's blog


BWAAA HAAA HAAAA!
People are WEIRD!

 

Oh brother.............

 

Hmmmm, interesting. I like the guys response the best! :lol:

 

As far as subliminal Iraq I can't really say I noticed anything one way or the other I was too busy trying to figure out why Prince was playing the halftime show.

 

LOL!!! Yea...Purple Rain saw it's grave long ago. I was a Prince fan at one time...shows how old I am. He was an odd choice for a halftime show. I guess it never really did take, him going by that symbol and not a name anymore? Craziness.

 

Yeah, I wondered about that choice too. So he used to be a symbol, and "formerly know as Prince, and now he's Prince again.....okay.....

I never did like him. His looks and actions always kind of freaked me out. Dh and the boys watched the game, but dh turned the tv off during halftime!

 

There are times that I am so grateful I am raising my kids differently than I was raise. I love my parents dearly, but they had no clue as to what I listened to. They were strict in many ways but music was not one of them. In fact, most movies I could watch also. They only opposed a lot of sex or profanity. Funny, even when that was the case, they just hit the fast forward button. lol. Imagine that....fast forward love scenes! LOL. My poor parents...what were they thinking! I guess that is why I am pretty strict on music and movies now.

 

Oh man am I the only lady here that thought Prince rocked?!?! I have always been a Prince fan and I only wish I could rock out on the guitar like he does. He was playing his butt off and in the rain too!! Dh watched the game and I watched the commercials, we both watched the half time show. I could really care less who won the Super Bowl but I love the commercials - my favs this year were both Bud Light commercials.

 

Have you ever heard how the song "Puff the Magic Dragon" was about the drug culture? I have heard Peter, Paul and Mary discuss that. Peter Yarrow goes on about how, when he wrote the song, he had not intended on that. But, after listening to all the evidence presented in (Times, I think it was), he decided maybe they were right! Then he started noticing the subliminal messages in OTHER songs and decided, after careful examination of our National Anthem that Francis Scott Keye must have been a junkie.....

 

I did hear about "Puff the Magic Dragon" but nothing about our National Anthem.

 

Jackie I have heard that before and I believe it too. I heard about drug references in the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland and also Fantasia. Now what is in our National Anthem that would be a reference to drug use? I'm thinking of the words and don't see it. Oh and you guys should have seen dh singing Purple Rain to me last night during half time. Made me want to put the kids to bed early!!

 

Tiffany, you are so funny! I was a huge Prince fan at one time. I will admit, I enjoyed seeing him again. I don't think I have heard him in 10 years or more! I also didn't find him offensive so I didn't turn it off.

I have also heard of the Alice and Wonderland being a druggie thing. The National Anthem being written on a druggie high eludes me. It was written during a time of war not an acid kick.

 

Yeah I have been sitting her going over the word to the Anthem and I see the whole song as patriotic. Jackie if you know what in it is drug related I would be interested in knowing. I swear Fantasia was made for people on acid trips! And seriously - Alice in Wonderland is full of drug references. The catterpillar and the mad hatters tea party are probably the worst that I can think of. Of course when I was a kid I didn't "get it" and I'm glad my kids don't "get it" either!

 

I remember watching Alice and Wonderland for the first time in many years with my dd, she was 3 at the time. I kept wondering why I was watching a caterpillar smoking dope and a spiked tea party. lol. Is that like Clockwork Orange for kids or something? I never saw the movie but I had to read the book in high school. I hear the movie is just vile.

 

Oh my gosh I totally forgot about Clockwork Orange!! Yeah a kid's version - I about spit out my drink when I read that!! I knew people in high school that watched that movie a lot and that means they were beyond high a lot. And yeah it is pretty vile. I always thought the caterpillar was smoking opium and at the tea party the tea was made of the special kind of mushrooms more commonly known as 'shrooms. I know there are more movies like that I just can't think of any right now.

Oh wow I didn't mean to hijack Jen's thread!! Sorry Jen! I really did enjoy Prince last night though and about the commercials - why does someone always have to twist things around to make it fit their agenda? And I don't mean Jen I mean the people she posted about. Someone always has to take issue with something simple.

 

OK. sorry! What Peter Yarrow was saying was that there was NO INTENTION of drugs in the song when he wrote it. The whole point is that if you want to find something bad enough, you will. He didn't REALLY think our National Anthem was about drugs, but based on the same "evidence" they used on Puff you could easily say it was.

Oh, say can you see....The SEE is an obvious reference to cocaine. (In Puff, they said that living "by the sea" the "sea" was reference to cocaine)

By the dawns early light...So they're lighting up first thing in the morning

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming.... Ater smoking all day, they extol in what they have done

O'er the ramparts we watched where so gallantly streaming...he's obviously tripping out here!


AGAIN, PETER YARROW WAS SAYING THIS TONGUE-IN-CHEEK TO EXPLAIN HOW CRAZY THE IDEA WAS!!! These "proofs" are just as crazy as those against Puff!

 

I loved Prince in his day--and I did dig hearing him, sang right along...............

I bet they put him on there because they knew he was not going to expose himself or something weird.....hehe. I mean he is weird in itself but........to us oldie moldies........hehe

 

Thanks for the explanation Jackie!!

 

Sorry Jackie. I totally missed the point. Geesh...looks like its Monday to me. Now, it does make total sense what you said. lol.

 

That's OK! I probably didn't explain myself very well the first time!