Super Bowl ads to watch
In divisive time, they tread carefully
NEW YORK - Super Bowl advertisers are treading carefully this year to avoid alienating customers as a divisive political climate takes some of the buzz away from what is usually the biggest spectacle on TV.
To get the attention back, some advertisers are turning to nostalgia, celebrities and marketing stunts.
Others are touching on social issues, without being too blunt about it. Budweiser won the pregame buzz with a sweeping cinematic ad showcasing founder Adolphus Busch’s 1857 immigration from Germany to St. Louis. Although it has been in the works since May, the ad felt topical, as it was released online just days after President Donald Trump’s travel ban against people from seven Muslim-majority countries. The ad got more than 8 million views on YouTube in just four days.
At $5 million for a 30-second spot during Fox’s Super Bowl broadcast Sunday, and an expected U.S. audience of more than 110 million, the pressure is on.
Political issues
Audi’s spot addresses gender equality as a man muses about his daughter receiving pay equal to men one day.
Construction company 84 Lumber had to revise its original ad because a scene featuring a border wall was deemed too controversial by Fox. The new ad shows a
Mexican woman and her daughter making a trip by foot across Mexico. The ad’s ending will be revealed at halftime at
http://journey84.com; the website suggests excised footage will be shown.
Though advertisers are being extra careful, taking on any sort of political topic might backfire, said Mark DiMassimo, CEO of ad agency DiMassimo Goldstein. Against the backdrop of an “emboldened, enraged or traumatized audience,” he said, themes that might have been innocuous in the past “seem more strident and jarring this year.”
Stuffed with celebs
In turbulent times, brands can count on celebrities to ensure goodwill among consumers.
And why use one celebrity when you can have many? In Honda’s ad, the high-school yearbook photos of Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Viola Davis, Missy Elliott, Tina Fey, Magic Johnson, Jimmy Kimmel, Stan Lee and Robert Redford come to life with special effects.
Website hosting company Squarespace shows an intense John Malkovich berating the owner of the johnmalkovich
.com domain name. Justin Bieber shows off dance moves to tout T-Mobile. For the baby boomer crowd, Mercedes-Benz shows a biker gang being amazed by Peter Fonda’s AMG GT roadster to the tune of Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild.”
“The proliferation of athletes and more personalities is a reflection of not taking too much risk,” said Kelly O’Keefe from Virginia Commonwealth University’s advertising graduate program. “When in doubt get a personality.”
Blast from the past
Anheuser-Busch joins Mercedes-Benz in trying to reach consumers with nostalgia. The brewer’s ad shows a mountain man opening a can of Busch beer to the sound of “Buschhhhh.” It’s a nod to the brand’s ad campaign, introduced in 1978, which lasted for decades.
Meanwhile, Bud Light is bringing back the ghost of its 1980s spokesdog Spuds Mackenzie — literally. In its ad, the dog appears as a ghost urging a Bud Light drinker to go out and join his friends, like the ghosts in the holiday classic “A Christmas Carol.”
“Emotions are the secret sauce of getting people to do things, and nostalgia is a great reason for people to pay attention,” said Devra Prywes of video analytics firm Unruly.