Maybe you watched the Super Bowl. Maybe you enjoyed it, or maybe you're a Bears fan. But did it occur to you that what you were really watching was a festival of hatred, brutality and insensitivity? No, not the game: the ads.

Television advertising standards came under fire again this week after several groups called someSuper Bowl commercials offensive and demanded they never be aired again...

[General Motors] became the subject of sharp criticism when The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention complained about the insensitivity of a commercial by the automaker that showed a factory robot leaping from a bridge after it was fired for a making a mistake.

The group said in a statement the commercial 'is offensive to the tens of millions of survivors of suicide loss nationwide. In its carelessness, it portrays suicide as a viable option when someone fails or loses their job.'...

This year's advertisement by Masterfoods, a unit of privately-held Mars, showed two auto mechanics locked in an accidental kiss while eating a Snickers candy bar, then ripping out chest hair to prove they are 'manly.'

'The makers of Snickers and its parent company at Mars should know better,' the Human Rights Campaign said in a statement. 'If they have any questions about why the ad isn't funny, we can help put them in touch with any number of Americans who have suffered hate crimes.'...

Even before the Super Bowl aired on February 4 on CBS, drawing the third largest U.S. television audience ever, the National Restaurant Association called an ad featuring Kevin Federline as a fast-food worker demeaning to the industry.

Quite right. It's this kind of thing that can lead to a 40% increase in wife-beating in a single day.