Watch some of the Super Bowl ads raising eyebrows ahead of Sunday’s game
The Super Bowl is about so much more than football.
With more than 100 million viewers expected to tune in to see the New England Patriots square off against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, it’s likely that as many fans will be just as excited to check out the commercials.
For mainstream viewers, ads like Apple’s “1984” (1984), Budweiser’s “Frogs” (1995) and Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” (2010) have been far more memorable than the big games.
While plenty of past ads have provoked reactions for the slightest bit of political themes (remember Coca Cola’s “It’s Beautiful” ad from 2014?), this year’s crop is addressing a more sensitive political landscape. But there are at least a handful of advertisers who were unafraid to explore more controversial topics.
Audi’s commercial directly addresses the gender pay gap as a father contemplates his daughter’s worth while watching her compete in a downhill boxcar race.
“What do I tell my daughter?” asks the father. “Do I tell her that despite her education, her drive, her skills, her intelligence, she will automatically be valued as less than every man she ever meets?”
First-time Super Bowl advertiser 84 Lumber was asked to change its ad, which shows a woman and her daughter’s journey across the border, to remove the images of a border wall.
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Budweiser’s timely Super Bowl commercial also tackles immigration as it depicts Anheuser-Busch co-founder Adolphus Busch’s arrival to the U.S. from Germany in 1857. The ad includes a scene in which men yell, “You’re not wanted here,” and, “Go back home,” to Busch on the streets.
Even Hulu’s Super Bowl offering takes a political slant with a trailer for its upcoming series “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Based on Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale” is set in a future where religious extremists have stripped away women’s rights because of falling birthrates.
Of course, not all of the politically themed commercials are serious or grim. Kia’s Super Bowl ad features Melissa McCarthy as an environmental activist called to save everything from the whales and trees to the polar ice caps.
Twitter: @tracycbrown
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