from www.theglobeandmail.com – The Super Bowl is known for exciting commercials, but an ad for a dating website that helps would-be adulterers cheat on their spouses apparently crosses the line.

The commercial, which features porn star Savanna Samson, was denied play during the 2011 Super Bowl by Fox Broadcasting earlier this week, said Noel Biderman, founder of Canadian dating website Ashley Madison.

“Clearly, having a porn star as the central figure in your commercial isn’t going to help your cause,” Mr. Biderman told The Globe and Mail. He said it’s disappointing that the NFL continues to discriminate against adult-film stars.

It’s not the first Super Bowl rejection the company has faced. In 2009, another Super Bowl ad – which Mr. Biderman described as tamer than their latest – was rejected by NBC.

He said Fox offered no explanation for their rejection beyond saying that the commercial was not acceptable to air. But Mr. Biderman said they’ve aired commercials on Fox before, hundreds of times.

“We tend to be on or off depending on the program, depending on the hour,” Mr. Biderman explained. He said this describes the company’s relationship with most networks, although ABC rejects them outright.

The company still has a few more options, however. When they were rejected in 2009, for instance, they still ran the commercial in Houston, Texas with an NBC affiliate station.

“There are affiliates, independently owned Fox stations,” Mr. Biderman said, that may be willing to sell them Super Bowl airtime. “It just ends up being a much more costly road.”

He said they’re also considering trying to run the ad during the Oscars.

For now, the rejected ad can be viewed online – along with an X-rated version.