The NewCo Daily: Today’s Top Stories
Despite scattered pleas to “keep politics out of the Super Bowl,” there was no chance of that. Viewers weren’t going to read yesterday’s big game, the big half-time show, and, most of all, the big ads for beer and other Americana in any other light (The Nation). Trump supporters delighted in the come-from-behind victory by the president’s favorite Patriots and associated it with his own electoral win. But they might have found less cheer in the rest of the messaging surrounding the game: from Hamilton’s Schuyler Sisters amending “America the Beautiful” by adding “sisterhood” to “brotherhood”; to Lady Gaga pumping out her omnisexual identity anthem “Born This Way”; to one diversity-welcoming commercial after another.
Budweiser’s big spot celebrated the life and trials of its 19th-century immigrant founder. Not too long ago (like, maybe, when it was approved and planned), such an ad would have been seen as a simple message of non-partisan patriotism. Today, it won plaudits from viewers who oppose the Trump immigration ban, but inspired calls for a Bud boycott among some Trump supporters.
Read More