Super Bowl Ad for Married Folk Seeking Affairs Rejected by NFL

(MoneyWatch)  The Super Bowl continues to look like the most boring ever for advertising with the news that the NFL said it will not, ever, carry an ad in its programs for AshleyMadison.com, a dating web site for married people looking for an affair, according to CNBC.

The company had signed a "six-figure" contract to advertise in the Super Bowl program but then ...

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said that no one in the league office actually ever saw the ad. "After realizing what the site was, the sales rep called back and told the company there was a mistake and that his company could not sell an ad to the site."

Noel Biderman, CEO of AshleyMadison.com, is slightly miffed:

"I find the rejection to be ridiculous given that a huge percentage of the NFL's marketing content is for products like alcohol, which they sell in their stadiums, promote on their air and clearly have in the magazine," Biderman said. "That's a product that literally kills tens of thousands of people each year.

Walletpop makes this obvious point:

Ever is a very, very long time, particularly when a recession is on and advertising revenue is getting harder and harder to find. What's more, given that the history of Super Bowl ads leans heavily toward dancing animals, beer guzzling morons, and sexist, homophobic humor, one may reasonably ask what, exactly, makes Ashley Madison so amazingly offensive?