For the Super Bowl, Toyota Takes On Religious Intolerance (It's Sure To Made Some People Angry)

Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek. 

Stop me if you've heard this one before. 

A rabbi, a priest, an imam and a Buddhist monk walk into a car.

Ah, you don't know this one?

That may be because I'm describing Toyota's Super Bowl commercial.

It's one that will likely bring a few friends to religiously stand up for their beliefs and throw a a couple of nachos and blows at each other.

Many brands are avoiding overt political statements for the big game.

It may well be that some of the players will do it for them.

Toyota, though, is doing its best to preach togetherness, an odd concept these days.

The aforementioned rabbi, priest, imam and Buddhist monk get into a Toyota truck in order to share an experience.

The experience is a football game, one in which they're all on the same side.

Yes, they might bicker a little and tweak each other's weaknesses.

Ultimately, though, they just imperfect humans who appreciate each other's humanity and are trying to get by in a twisted world.

Yes, it has considerable similarities to an ad Amazon ran a couple of Christmases ago, one in which a priest and an imam met for a chinwag and exchanged gifts. (That Amazon app is so useful.)

Here, though, the political atmosphere is even more menacing.

For a car company to wade into it -- even if its pretext is sponsorship of the U.S. Olympics team -- certainly shows courage.

Companies and their brands have been placed in highly-charged positions over the last year or two.

It's very hard for any large concern to offer a neutral pose.

After all, this is a world in which Larry Fink, chairman and CEO of famed investment firm BlackRock, insisted that companies "not only deliver financial performance but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society. Companies must benefit all of their stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, customers, and the communities in which they operate."

There's something quaint about organizations created to make money becoming the repositories of social cohesion, as institutions created to foster social cohesion now seem to stomp on it with abandon.

The worldly might, of course, claim that religions -- or their alleged believers -- have tended to be the cause of too many of the world's wars.

But as you watch a game that touches on the glorification of brutality, it's worth considering what's important in life. 

It's not money. It's the human touches that make us feel things that are actually genuine.

And if you're still struggling with what's important after you watch this ad, listen to some kids who have terminal illnesses.