In Monday's Washington Post, it became clear which Super Bowl ad the liberal Posties dislike the most: one from the athletic apparel (and now shoe) makers at Under Armour. They probably shudder at the brand name. The Post sports section ran snippets of its columnist (and radio and TV personality) Tony Kornheiser live-blogging during the big game: "I think I've seen the Under Armour ad before or one very much like it. It doesn't do much for me. It's too militaristic."
But Post TV critic Tom Shales really hated it, and dropped the political F-word on it: "Among the most overproduced spots was one featuring musclebound models in the 'American Gladiator' mode wearing tight spandex athletic garb from Underarmour.com. A huge mob surging through the streets seemed stolen from the underrated futuristic thriller 'V for Vendetta.' It was hard to tell, though, who were the fascist oppressors and who were the liberated hordes."
Perhaps, Mr. Shales, that's because they're selling a new running shoe, not world domination. Hitler and Mussolini wouldn't have gotten very far taking over Europe by beating people with sneakers. The fascist analogy is also a clunker when dealing with black athletes, since Hitler wasn't exactly fond of Jesse Owens.
Business Week saw a preview and thought "Communist rally."
