February 11, 2016

That ‘Controversial’ Doritos Commercial

In a day when the most innocuous thing can quickly become political, a Doritos Super Bowl commercial has upset some people who want abortion to be an unrestricted right. For those taking a bathroom break or watching “Downton Abbey” instead of the football game, here’s the scenario. A pregnant woman is receiving a sonogram in her hospital bed. The screen shows the baby. The father is snacking on Doritos and he notices the child’s arms moving in the direction of the chip, as dad takes it from the bag and puts it in his mouth. Finally, the baby can stand it no longer and emerges from the womb to grab his own chip.

In a day when the most innocuous thing can quickly become political, a Doritos Super Bowl commercial has upset some people who want abortion to be an unrestricted right.

For those taking a bathroom break or watching “Downton Abbey” instead of the football game, here’s the scenario. A pregnant woman is receiving a sonogram in her hospital bed. The screen shows the baby. The father is snacking on Doritos and he notices the child’s arms moving in the direction of the chip, as dad takes it from the bag and puts it in his mouth. Finally, the baby can stand it no longer and emerges from the womb to grab his own chip.

It’s funny and most people took it as a creative way to get attention for the product, which is why advertisers paid up to $5 million for a 30 second ad on television’s most watched sporting event.

The humor was lost on some. One with a Twitter address @NARAL (for the National Abortion Rights Action League) wrote: “#NotBuyingIt — that @Doritosad using #antichoice tactic of humanizing fetuses and sexist tropes of dads as clueless and moms as uptight.”

Humanizing fetuses? Just what does that sonogram image show if not a human? It certainly isn’t beer, which also occupied expensive commercial space during the game.

As for “dads and moms,” can one be a dad or mom before a child is born, or only after birth? And if the woman decides to abort the baby, even as he or she emerges from the womb, do the adults instantly revert to their previous status as non-dad and non-mom? At what point does society, or feminism, convey parenthood on an adult, or humanness on a baby?

In addition to scientific advances that allow babies to survive at earlier periods of gestation, pro-choicers most fear the sonogram, precisely because it shows an image whose humanness cannot be denied. Having spoken at numerous pregnancy help centers, I have heard many women thinking of having an abortion testify that seeing a picture of their baby changed their minds.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, “…13 states require verbal counseling or written materials to include information on accessing ultrasound services. Twenty-five states regulate the provision of ultrasound by abortion providers. Three states mandate that an abortion provider perform an ultrasound on each woman seeking an abortion and requires the provider to show and describe the image. Ten states mandate that an abortion provider perform an ultrasound on each woman seeking an abortion, and require the provider to offer the woman the opportunity to view the image. Nine states require that a woman be provided with the opportunity to view an ultrasound image if her provider performs the procedure as part of the preparation for an abortion. Six states require that a woman be provided with the opportunity to view an ultrasound image.”

There are laws requiring labels on things we buy at the supermarket, informing us of the amount of calcium, sodium, sugars in each product — information considered important. There are laws requiring that certain information be given to a person seeking a bank loan, buying a house or car and before surgery.

Showing a pregnant woman a picture of what is growing inside her results in a more informed decision.

Once, in a debate with a pro-choice advocate, my opponent said by advocating for mandatory sonograms I was implying that women aren’t smart enough to figure these things out on their own.

“Fine,” I responded. “Then remove the labels from bottles and cans, do not provide information about a bank loan, and tear the sticker from the car at the dealership because women should be smart enough to figure these things out on their own.”

If just one pregnant woman contemplating an abortion saw that Doritos commercial and decided to allow her “human” to live, the company, perhaps unwittingly, will have performed a vital service unrelated to the number of chips it sells.

© 2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.