AshleyMadison.com's brand new commercial starring porn star Savanna Samson has been officially rejected from airing during the 2011 Super Bowl. Unlike past Ashley Madison spots, the new ad doesn't mention anything specific about the adultery service or even use its controversial tagline "Life is Short. Have an Affair."
The rejection of the seemingly G (rated) spot has lead AshleyMadison.com founder Noel Biderman to believe it's the use of the hall of fame porn star that led to the rejection of the ad. "Now that so many adult film stars including Jenna Jameson and Sasha Grey have crossed over into the mainstream, it's disappointing that the NFL continues to discriminate against them. I wonder if they're planning on restricting Ben Roethlisberger from playing or Rex Ryan from coaching in the big game," said the disgruntled Biderman who is used to the rejection by now.
(To see the video of the rejected AshleyMadison.com ad, click on the 'Jump')
In 2009, AshleyMadison.com's Super Bowl ad was rejected by NBC nationally but still managed to air in Houston, TX (a very strong market for the service) by doing a local ad buy with their NBC affiliate. Biderman said he is entertaining the idea of seeking out similar opportunities for this year's game and is confident that the local affiliates will run his ad despite the rejection.
FOX offered no explanation other than that their "Standards & Practices has deemed the Ashley Madison spot is not acceptable to air on FOX."