Superbowl Ad Aftermath
I'm probably the only marketing person who did not watch the Superbowl - for the ads or otherwise. But I find it interesting to see the aftermath of whatbymanyaccounts was a less than stellar line-up of ads. As advertisers tried to go over the top and make an impact, they ended up alienating various contingents of of their viewers. The GM suicidal robot spot, which was one of the few ads I was intrigued enough about to watch online, ended up being pulled after the company met with representatives of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The group felt the spot was offensive and potentially dangerous:
The Snickers commercial featuring two guys accidentally kissing also got pulled after many complaints, including from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the Matthew Shepard Foundation, that it was homophobic.
Even people in the restaurant industry found something to get upset over, with the "demeaning and offensive" Nationwide Insurance spot that showed Kevin Federline as a fry cook dreaming about being a rap star.
The Mad Scientist over at media brain discussed an article on what brain scans of individuals watching the superbowl ads can tell us about their effectiveness. He says:
This sounds about right to me, and I would suspect that the suicidal robot ad also evoked similar brain responses -- lots of feelings of threat and anxiety.
Seems like the winners in terms of getting good free publicity from this year's Superbowl ads were the advocacy groups who put their names in the news by protesting various multi-million dollar ad buys. Watch for this tactic to spread as nonprofits and trade associations scrutinize every commercial for possible offensive content related to their causes. Not a bad strategy, as long as a compelling case can be made; otherwise organizations risk a backlash as "the cause who cried wolf."
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