As it Turns Out American Football.

Really doesn't flow as sport. Added to that you've got the fact that the Superbowl is the most important game of the season which neither team wants to risk losing. As a result the Superbowl is always a very long and very tense affair marked by lots of awkward silences. The idea being to get viewers to discuss between themselves and increasingly online the issues raised by the spectacle.

The main theme of Superbowl 47 will be the degree to which homosexuals and black people are accepted within wider US society. The homosexuals will be represented by the San Francisco 49's because it's a city with a large homosexual population. The blacks or 'hood rats' will be represented by the Baltimore Ravens. Although not strictly speaking a racial term a hood rat is a member of the poor inner-city criminal underclass represented in the Baltimore set TV series "The Wire." All the talk of 'brotherly love between the Harbaugh brothers who coach both teams is a reference to the much more niche issue of attitudes towards homosexuality within the US black community as referenced by the Frank Ocean saga. However there is a hope that amongst viewers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) this would be interpreted as a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Beyonce thinks shes been invited to sing the national anthem in order to help celebrate the progress made in integrating black people into US society. In reality she's been invited to further damage US President Obama's image both at home and abroad while having a sort of post-mortem of her and her husband Jay-Z's role in Obama's Presidential campaign. Causing or allowing Rihanna's relationship with Chris Brown shows a fundamental personality flaw that should make you deeply unpopular not least by insulting everyone's intelligence by asking them to believe it to be a legitimate relationship. Therefore the sight of Jay-Z and Beyonce standing shoulder to shoulder with Obama during the election campaign should have significantly tarnished his reputation to the point where Romney would've won.

All the focus on the adverts, all the food, beer and TV's brought always brings up the issue of consumerism. This is particularly damaging to Obama at this time because although I suspect he was only following the advice of the intelligence community his "Pivot towards the Pacific" is ridiculous and makes him appear to be a supporter of Chinese style totalitarian consumerism in which people have little value other then in their role as a consumer. The "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" advert calls this into sharp focus because one element of the very complex negotiations between the US and China over the issue of mass killings is China indicating that it wants to move away from this type of consumerism while people like Mayor Bloomberg and Hillary Clinton want to speed up it's spread across the globe. However it will of course be Obama's name on the tin.

Government campaigns aside the Superbowl adverts allow the US state to negotiate with some of the largest brands in the world with the brands constantly being forced to tease out information about what the main themes shall be in order to make sure their adverts are on message. From what I've seen so far this year Volkswagen seem to be the standout winner with their "Get Happy" advert. It features a white man driving around a typical US city in a VW Beetle talking in a comedy Jamaican/Caribbean accent. This is either really funny or really racists depending on how you look at it. This conflict plays perfectly into the theme of attitudes towards race within US society. Coca-Cola's "CokeChase" advert is also worth an honourable mention. It shows a giant bottle of Coke in an Arabian desert representing oil. This oil is being chased by a gang of "Mad Max" style hooligans which is a reference to the para-Olympic closing ceremony. Traditional US cowboys (including a black one) and a pink bus full of Las Vegas style Showgirls. Due to comparisons with films such as "Brokeback Mountain" and "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" both the cowboys and the showgirls play around with the concepts of race and sexuality. Personally I think the Mad Max hooligans will win the race. The Arab Sheik of course just sits there watching and smiling.

Soda Stream's "The Soda Stream Effect" advert is also pretty good. Soda Stream is an Israeli company which operates out of illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. The 'Soda Stream Effect' of the titles shows things blowing up every time someone uses a Soda Stream machine. This is primarily intended to be a statement about Soda Streams lower environmental impact then shipping bottles of soda across the world but could also be a reference to the damaging impact that Israeli customs check points have on Palestinian businesses attempting to operate in the West Bank. It ends with the slogan; "If you love the bubbles set them free!"

18:35 on 3/2/13.