Super Bowl Ads Low on Testosterone, High on Cultural Awareness

After a year of scandals, frat-boy humor gets shut down

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Can you hear that? That's the sound of the National Football League breathing a huge sigh of relief that advertisers still want to sidle up to the Super Bowl buffet, after a rocky year that gave "let's go to the videotape" entirely new meaning.

Kat Gordon, illustration by Alex Fine

Fiancée elevator beatings, toddler corporal punishment, rape accusations—oh, my.

As the NFL scrambles to rebuild its image, including appointing its first female CMO and referee, advertisers paying $9 million a minute are part of another reimagining of sorts: What it means to be an American in 2015.

Advertising has always been a mirror into culture, and the Super Bowl remains one of the last broadcasts that Americans, in large numbers, tune in to in real time.

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