Aside from the unexpected but terrific use of the late Paul Harvey in the Dodge Ram commercial, the SuperBowl commercials this year were somewhat predictable. There were lots of women used as props (ewww! enough with the sound effects, GoDaddy!) along with lots of commercials for cars, food and beer.

I wasn't planning to write about any of them except that one, by Audi, that took "eww!" factor set by GoDaddy and upped it by including a moment that fits the definition of sexual assault.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines sexual assault as "illegal sexual contact that usually involves force upon a person without consent." Obviously, the exact legal definition can differ from state to state but the important elements are sexual contact via force.

Does the Audi ad fit this definition?

Well, first, the handsome young man is going to prom by himself. But by driving his father's really cool Audi, he gains confidence, so he marches into prom, grabs the arm of the prom queen (force) and kisses (sexual contact) her without obtaining consent. After, we see him with a silly grin on his face, despite having been given a black eye by the prom king. The prom queen is shown smiling somewhat in the aftermath.

The message is: gain confidence, forcibly kiss a girl, it will feel good, and she will like it.

According to the Washington Post, an ad during the Super Bowl cost $3.5 million for thirty seconds. This is what they spent their money on? I don't have a facapalm big enough for it but it's not simply because I'm irritated or annoyed. It's because this is a dangerous message, unwanted sexual contact is cool. There's a reason the term "rape culture" exists, the theory that a culture sends messages that it's okay to force oneself on a woman.

In the case of the Audi commercial, the forced contact is not only okay, but a great thing and sends the further message that women want this.

Gavin de Becker talks about messages like this in his book, The Gift of Fear, about movies and television and pop culture images that showcase men who are persistent, chase women without their consent and their actions at the end aren't rewarded by an arrest for stalking but one with the object of their desire seeing the light and choosing them.

In a society where U.S. Department of Justice statistics from 1998 indicate that one in six women have suffered an attempted or completed rape, this kind of message not only deserves a facepalm, it needs to be countered and called out.