A record setting 114.4 million people tuned in to watch last year's Super Bowl. Large portions of viewers show up only to check out the entertaining commercials. This year featured several controversies surrounding said advertisements. Nationwide insurance has, reportedly, been receiving a lot of criticisms for their insensitive spot featuring a dead child. Accompanying them was the ever-popular GoDaddy, who actually had to pull their ad after the public voiced a large amount of disapproval.
The Super Bowl is frequently the most viewed program that airs each year. It only makes sense that big companies would take advantage of this and, in turn, many more people are exposed to their products and services.
A lot of the time, the larger brands like Budweiser, Doritos and Pepsi get the most attention. This is because they are the only ones capable of writing a check for the $4.5 million that it costs for each 30-second spot.
These commercials are effective for many different reasons.
A lot of the time, they are humorous, violent and sexy (everything that sets a man off). However, as is described in this report by Fox Sports, sometimes ads miss their mark:
"Insurance company Nationwide set off a Twitter firestorm Sunday with its first of two commercials in the Super Bowl, a 45-second spot featuring a young boy talking about all the things he won't be able to do in life...because he's dead...The commercial ends with an on-screen message that says the leading cause of childhood deaths is preventable accidents... Though the message is certainly important, the method of delivery ran afoul of many viewers' sensibilities..."
Furthermore, Nationwide doesn't stand alone as an advertising pariah. According to CNN, GoDaddy's Danica Patrick spot was dead on arrival:
"GoDaddy has a long history of submitting ads to the Super Bowl and having them either withdrawn or rejected for offensive material. Usually their rejected ads involve raunchy humor and scantily clad women. But this time it involves GoDaddy's recently adopted mascot, a puppy named Buddy. GoDaddy was planning to air the ad during the Super Bowl, where airtime costs $4.5 million for a 30-second spot. [However,] a petition on Change.org garnered 40,000 signatures to kill the commercial."
What are your opinions on the situation? What is your favorite Super Bowl ad? Let us know in the comment section below.
