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In 2007, a homebuilding executive raised eyebrows with his description of what he expected to be a bad year for the industry. Donald J. Tomnitz, then CEO of D.R. Horton, set off a national conversation about whether such language was appropriate for a company leader. The headlines at the time included “Can you say ‘suck’ on the business page?’ and “The Donald Tomnitz School for CEOs Who Can’t Speak Good.”
Fast forward to the 2025 Super Bowl, and suddenly it’s Disney that’s using the word — or Disney+, to be specific.
In an ad inviting viewers to imagine a world without iconic characters and movies, the narrator says that the world would be ... well, not good. It was not the sort of word one might associate with the Disney brand, let’s just say.
Given that conservative superstars like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly use words that are even more verboten on their broadcasts, it seems quaint to bring this up, but I do so in the spirit of camaraderie: If you, too, were taken aback by the ad, you are not alone.
And also to note that Disney as a brand is a different creature than Disney+, which is something people who don’t subscribe to the streaming service (like me) would have no way of knowing.
Last year, Disney+ added programming from Hulu and ESPN, causing The Hollywood Reporter to say the platform is “getting a lot more grownup” — which is another way of saying, better pay attention to what your kids are watching there. As a Business Insider headline said in August, “Disney+ is no longer a safe space after it added Hulu content.”
“What used to feel like a safe walled garden of family-friendly fare on Disney+ now has more-mature titles — R-rated movies like ‘Aliens’ (which is being promoted at the top of the home screen) and TV-MA shows like ‘American Horror Story’ and ‘Shōgun,’” Katie Notopoulos wrote.
Disney+ does have “kid-proofing” parental controls to block certain content, but it seems equally important that the company culture-proof its brand. Because, you know, nothing says Disney like “Deadpool and Wolverine” or “Memes & Nightmares.”
All this is to explain that the objectionable word in question is perhaps a better fit for Disney+ than Disney writ large, but still a fail for the brand overall. I reached out to Jim Condelles, a Pennsylvania writer (and Eagles fan) who criticized the ad on X, to ask why it bothered him.
He told me, “When my kids were little, we were very careful to keep them from content that would expose them to usages like (that). To have Disney doing just that in an ad with a gigantic world audience says to me the world has flipped upside down.”
“I’m not a prude. I wrote a novel that has its share of various types of language. But that’s a novel. This is supposedly general audience TV. Used to be a safe place. Not anymore,” Condelles said.
At least the halftime performers kept their clothes on this year. And being over the age of 40, which apparently was the dividing line for enjoying the Kendrick Lamar show, that’s all I’m going to say about the halftime entertainment.
Can the cul-de-sac bros save Bud Light?
It wasn’t a fan favorite, but Bud Light’s “Big Men on the Cul-de-Sac” ad was remarkable in that it represents a 180-degree turn from the 2023 Dylan Mulvaney controversy that launched a boycott that is still affecting sales. The commercial featured singer Post Malone, comedian Shane Gillis and Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning in an over-the-top neighborhood party. (Best line: “Your mower smokes meat? No, my smoker cuts grass.”)
Writing for National Review, Jim Geraghty called the ad part of the “Bud Light please-take-us-back campaign” that so far doesn’t appear to be working. In fact, what the ad did was restart the discussion about how the brand enraged its base two years ago.
Meanwhile, Anson Frericks, a former Anheuser-Busch InBev executive, wrote an essay for The Free Press last week in which he detailed the ways in which the company had succumbed to “corporate progressivism.”
As to whether “bro” ads like “Big Men on the Cul-de-Sac” can turn things around for the brand, Frericks doesn’t seem optimistic. His new book is entitled “Last Call for Bud Light: The Fall and Future of America’s Favorite Beer.” Of course, declining sales may not just be because of the boycott, but because of falling alcohol consumption overall because of the health risks.
Quote of the Week
“Racist trolls on the internet, while offensive, don’t threaten my kids. You know what does? A culture that denies grace to people who make mistakes.” Vice President JD Vance on why he supported the rehiring of a 25-year-old working for Elon Musk and DOGE after The Wall Street Journal reported on his offensive social media posts.
Recommended Reading
Mariya Manzhos takes us into the home of New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, out this week with a new book making a strong case for religious faith: “The fine-tuning of physical laws, the unresolved nature of consciousness and the persistence of religious experiences all suggest that it’s likely that a divine intelligence underlies reality. ‘Reason still points godward,’ Douthat writes.”
https://www.deseret.com/faith/2025/02/10/ross-douthat-believe-book-new-york-times/
Jay Evensen looks at the problem the DOGE team is up against as it nibbles at the deficit: “The Concord Coalition is a bipartisan group dedicated to debt reduction. Its executive director, Robert Bixby, recently told The Christian Science Monitor. ‘People throw up their hands because of the size of the federal government, and the debt frustrates people. There’s a sentiment that we need a disruptor. But even a disruptor can’t change the math.’ And these are programs a disruptor can’t fix with a sledgehammer.”
https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2025/02/10/doge-has-yet-to-tackle-real-spending-challenge
Meg Walter argues that if anyone is going to profit from a true-crime story, it should be the families of the victims: “While these true crime productions that are made without the knowledge of victims’ families are in poor taste, they are not illegal. Court documents are public records and production companies are under no obligation to notify victims’ families that their devastating tragedy is about to be broadcast to millions of viewers.”
My latest
Whether you are thinking “America is so back!” or “The last days are truly here,” or something in between, the pace at which Donald Trump and his team are working is astonishing. I subscribe to the White House press mailing list, and it’s not unusual to check my email after a couple of hours and find more than a dozen new announcements from the president. It led me to ask: Can Donald Trump keep up this pace? And should he?
Meanwhile, in preparation for the Academy Awards March 2, I’ve finally started watching this year’s Best Picture nominees. I will leave you with a memorable quote from “Conclave” — “Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand-in-hand with doubt. If there was only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery. And therefore no need for faith.”
Send your ideas and favorite Oscar-nominated movie quotes to me at Jgraham@deseretnews.com. Thank you for reading.