If it’s not you, someone close to you will say it: “I watch the Super Bowl for the commercials.”
Companies know this. That’s part of why they spend millions of dollars creating the perfect 30-second advertisement. Some ads have struck a chord, even becoming a part of our cultural memory. For example, it’s impossible to see Clydesdales now and not think of Budweiser.
But this year will be different. And, in keeping with our times, a lot less fun.
Several of the companies known for their Super Bowl ads, including Budweiser, aren’t even participating in this year’s game because they’re not sure how to strike the right tone. The coronavirus pandemic, social unrest, and political division have created an impossible climate in which no one is happy and everyone is eager to find offense.
“There is trepidation around Super Bowl advertising this year,” Bill Oberlander, the co-founder and executive creative director of ad agency Oberlander, told the New York Post. “For the Super Bowl, you generally go big or go home. I think brands are going home rather than spending tens of millions of dollars and not getting it right. They’re saying, ‘Let’s wait until this shitstorm clears.’”
As a result, several Super Bowl commercial giants have decided to forgo the traditional advertisements and reallocate their funds. Budweiser announced that it will spend some of its commercial budget on a 90-second pandemic-themed film called Bigger Picture, which will air leading up to the Super Bowl. Pepsi said it will focus all of its efforts on its halftime show. And Coca-Cola plans to donate its commercial budget to coronavirus-related charities to “ensure we are investing in the right resources during these unprecedented times.”
Advertising experts said the decision to sit this game out was probably the right one. Given the circumstances, there are only two appropriate tones a widely viewed commercial could take: one that is lighthearted and humorous or one that speaks to the difficult time in which people find themselves. Both are risky.
“There’s a lot of discussion about risk mitigation,” Rob Schwartz, the CEO of ad agency TBWAChiatDay, explained. “What that tends to do is that it makes things very bland and not effective or it forces you to look at universal topics like hope or humor.”
Oberlander agreed: “The country is so divided and split right down the middle that I don’t think that there’s a commercial that will appease both sides.”
There’s an argument to be made that these companies should have just aired their advertisements anyway. After all, as the age-old saying goes, you’ll never be able to make everyone happy. But these days, corporate executives are terrified of making the wrong people unhappy.
