Super Bowl Aftermath: Offended 2, Defense 0

First they came for the Snickers guys. Now Super Bowl ad objectors have taken down another spot from the big game. GM has announced that it will redo a commercial in which an assembly-line robot has a dream in which he commits suicide after dropping a bolt, after protests from a suicide-prevention group.

Let me reiterate: the suicide of a robot. In a dream.

Now, I don't want to dismiss the concerns of the group entirely. If someone can make the case that the ad actually encouraged suicide, by all means pull it, though I would need some convincing. I have never experienced the suicide of someone close, and if I did, I suspect that the ad would stir up painful feelings. As would, I suspect, random songs on the radio, certain smells and familiar places, old photographs, and waking up in the morning. I am not certain if a TV commercial about a robot could add to that burden--but again, I do not speak from experience.

Either way, I guess it's a pointless debate to have. Commercials are not about statements or artistic freedom, they are about moving product, and GM, like Snickers, has no reason to give people a reason not to buy their products.

These are the times we live in. It's hard to imagine, in this day and age, how Sonny could have gone--umm, psychologically challenged?--for Cocoa Puffs.