By Karen Chaston
Every year, the Super Bowl draws one of the largest collective viewing audiences on the planet, with well over 120 million viewers in the US alone and millions more engaging globally through streaming, media and social platforms.
For advertisers, that audience is priceless.
A single 30-second commercial can cost many millions of US dollars before production even begins. So, when a full minute-long advertisement runs during this event about unexpected pregnancy, it is not simply awareness..
It is influence.
It is cultural shaping.
And it is a strategic financial investment.
Which raises a confronting question:
If adoption wasn’t lucrative, would anyone be spending tens of millions promoting it?
Only two choices? And neither tells the whole story
The advertisement doesn’t clearly outline real options at all.
Instead, it visually pits two messages against each other:
- “Pro-life”
• “My body, my choice”
Reducing one of the most complex, emotional and life-altering experiences a woman can face into a polarised debate.
No complexity.
No real-world realities.
No exploration of long-term consequences.
Just two opposing slogans.
And sitting quietly beneath this simplified narrative is what never gets properly discussed or acknowledged.
The full range of choices women actually live with.
The four real paths women navigate
If we are truly talking about choice, there are four realities women face after unexpected pregnancy.
And each deserves to be explored.
Abortion
For some women it feels like the best decision available at the time.
For others it carries emotional, physical or psychological impacts that surface months or years later.
It is rarely the simple or neutral experience advertising suggests.
Parenting alone
Single motherhood is challenging, yes.
But it is also filled with love, attachment, connection and continuity.
What makes it hardest is not parenting itself.
It is the lack of financial support, housing security, health insurance, childcare access and community resources.
With real support, many women would never feel forced into other choices.
Marriage or partnership
Sometimes this provides stability and shared responsibility.
But often it involves rushing into lifelong commitments under pressure, sometimes in unhealthy or unsafe relationships.
Marriage does not magically erase financial strain or emotional readiness.
Adoption
Frequently framed as loving and selfless.
Rarely discussed as permanent separation.
Adoption means:
• a lifelong absence of the everyday relationship between a mother and her child, the missed milestones, the ordinary moments, the shared memories that build attachment, belonging and family identity
- grief that does not simply fade with time, but often resurfaces across life stages such as adolescence, parenthood, reunion, and major losses, because the original maternal separation was never fully understood, validated, processed or supported
- ongoing questions of identity for many adoptees, including where they belong, who they resemble, what parts of themselves come from whom, and the feeling of living between families rather than fully within one
- emotional and nervous system impacts that can show up as fear of abandonment, people-pleasing, difficulty trusting relationships, heightened sensitivity to rejection, or a deep sense of loneliness, all of which society continues to minimise or misunderstand
Research increasingly shows that early maternal separation and loss itself can be traumatic, even when adoption occurs into loving homes.
Yet none of this complexity appears in prime-time advertising.
What the spending really reveals
No organisation spends tens of millions of dollars without expecting return.
This level of advertising tells us:
- there is financial incentive behind adoption
• there is demand for placements
• and vulnerable women in moments of fear and overwhelm are the target audience
Often before they have:
• full information
• emotional support
• financial alternatives
• or time to process long-term consequences
This is not simply about values.
It is about economics.
A lifelong decision framed as a momentary one
Unexpected pregnancy is often a moment of panic.
Fear.
Pressure.
Uncertainty.
Lack of resources.
In those moments, simplified messaging pushes women towards quick solutions.
But adoption does not solve a short-term crisis.
It creates a lifelong reality of separation, loss, regret, “what ifs” and emotional impact for many.
Yet glossy campaigns never mention grief, trauma, or long-term emotional and psychological effects.
They sell simplicity.
What real choice would actually look like
Real choice is not a slogan.
Real choice is support.
It looks like:
• unbiased counselling
• financial and housing assistance
• healthcare and childcare access
• trauma-informed care
• community programs for young parents
If even a fraction of those advertising millions went into supporting mothers and families, many women would never feel forced into separation.
But there is no industry profit in families staying together.
Why this ad matters far beyond one broadcast
This commercial did more than air.
It shaped perception on one of the biggest stages in the world.
It reduced complex lived realities into polarised slogans.
It erased a mother’s right to an informed choice altogether.
It quietly positioned adoption as the most ideal option………. without ever naming the lifelong cost.
And when massive money shapes the narrative, we must ask who benefits and who bears the lifelong consequences.
Because until women are supported across all real options, what we are witnessing is not choice.
It is influence.
Coercive Influence.
The same psychological dynamic seen in coercive control, where options are restricted, pressure is applied, and choice is shaped rather than freely made.
#AdoptionAwareness #InformedChoice #AdoptionTrauma #WomenDeserveSupport #EthicalAdoption #TheEmotionalFingerprintofanAdoptee
