Apologies for the late post today. I’m dealing with PG&E power shutdowns at the office this week due to fire hazard conditions (it’s a Bay Area October). Planning to have Ryan Glasspiegel on tomorrow morning to discuss his red hot Buck/Aikman story.
Anyway, I enjoy the niche genre of professional athlete making an earnest complaint in defense of the product remaining family friendly. We saw it with Spurs center Luke Kornet opposing an Atlanta Hawks "Magic City Night” promotion of that town’s most famous strip club. Now we have Dodgers outfielder Alex Call with the following lament:
Can we please get the soft porn ads off playoff broadcasts? My son wants to watch baseball with Dada, but how do I justify that when a half-naked woman could come on screen anytime?? This is America’s Pastime. Parents shouldn’t have to worry about this.
Call was referencing a post that detailed the following commercials during a baseball playoff game:
Megan Fox selling ED pills in a red bodysuit
The scariest movie trailer you've ever seen
Sydney Sweeney in zero clothes promoting betting on sports
The horror movie trailers were a particular problem in my house until my oldest aged out of being traumatized and aged into demanding answers as to why he wasn’t allowed to watch. I haven’t noticed as much sexual content during games, but it looks like the Sydney Sweeney NOVIG ads got a big run.
Here’s the main reason why Alex Call’s preference isn’t going to happen anytime soon, other than the general coarsening of culture in a hyper-connected internet age. I’d argue it’s THE most underrated issue facing sports as entertainment in America.