Fancy Store-Bought Dirt

Looking Back on 38

Flipping through radio stations this morning I happened across "Rock Your Body."

Despite what people remember now, the most offensive element of the Super Bowl 38 broadcast had nothing to do with the halftime show (I swear I was watching the most notorious moment, yet it even didn't register with me, nor anyone else at that SB party, that anything out of the ordinary had happened); rather, it was arguably the farting horse from a beer commercial.

Since the of course the half-time shows have been sanitized. Have the ads also gotten cleaner? My general impression is yes. What were the most offensive elements (if any) of the 2008 ads? I wish there had been less gratuitous yelling, but that's a personal problem. Really, the only things that stand out are the over-the-top racist caricatures from sales tool ads, plus maybe the crotch smacking inflicted on (ironically) Justin Timberlake.

Sneezing fire is even a rough analogue to farting fire, though distinctly less pushing-it.

(Oh yeah, just thought of this: 38 was also the year of the Brazilian Wax beer ad. The guy thought he was getting free beer, but didn't see the sign on the door and instead [...] "Yeow." This is significantly less appropriate for family viewing than a mammary gland with a pasty on it, if only because you know every seven-year-old watching asked the same question ("What's a Brazilian wax?").)