Posted on 01/26/2021 7:28:45 PM PST by DoodleBob
Most Super Bowl commercials take a lighthearted approach, with cute kids, funny dogs, talking babies.
Think of the adorable, pint-sized Darth Vader using the “force” to start up his dad’s Volkswagen Passat in 2011. Or two cute Dalmatian pups separated at birth for a Budweiser spot in 1999.
But this February, sports marketing experts predict CBS Sports’ telecast of Super Bowl LV will feature more serious advertising messages that tackle topics like racial justice, white privilege, and the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
Nationwide protests inspired by the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and the loss of 280,000 Americans from the coronavirus pandemic have altered the cultural landscape.
The NFL has looked to embrace social justice initiatives, including placing the “Black Lives Matter” message on player helmets and in end zones. Sponsors may look to follow suit during CBS’s telecast from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. on Feb. 7.
“It’s going to be ‘Black Lives Matter,’ it’s going to be COVID. It’s going to be [about] coming together,” predicted Bill Oberlander, co-founder and executive creative director of the purpose-driven ad agency OBERLAND.
Corporate marketers can no longer “duck” racial, social and political issues, Oberlander warned. In fact, many consumers want brands to stand up.
According to a study by OBERLAND and real-time market research firm Suzy, brands are more at risk from saying nothing than speaking out against racism.
Roughly 80% of consumers want brands to respond to racism by making a statement or donating money to anti-racism organizations. And 35% of consumers ages 19-26 say they’ve stopped buying from brands that have not spoken out against racism since Floyd’s death on May 25.
(Excerpt) Read more at frontofficesports.com ...
Things have changed since December 4 - consider this article posted two days ago:
Several Super Bowl Advertisers Bow Out over Fear of Offending Viewers
Breitbart ^ | 24 Jan 2021 | Warner Todd Huston
Posted on 1/24/2021, 10:32:13 PM by E. Pluribus Unum
In that January 24 article, the SAME wokey Mr Oberland who is quoted in the December 4 article says:
“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,” added Bill Oberlander, co-founder and executive creative of ad agency Oberlander.
In the underlying NY Post article from a few days ago, Oberland goes further:
“There is trepidation around Super Bowl advertising this year,” said Bill Oberlander, co-founder and executive creative of ad agency Oberlander. “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 s–storm clears.’”
Now, in the December 4 article...
According to a study by OBERLAND and real-time market research firm Suzy, brands are more at risk from saying nothing than speaking out against racism...Said Oberlander: “I can’t imagine that advertisers are not going to use this as an opportunity to speak up on behalf of their brands — or on behalf of the social impact that’s going on all around.”
This is stunning. Why would Mr Oberland (whose agency, btw, specializes in wokey advertising), have changed his mind so radically? He was so bloody CERTAIN on Dec 4 that it'd be about BLM, COVID, and "coming together" (whatever that means).
I mean, Biden was the winner* back then, right? That hasn't changed...people are still getting the virus - Hank Aaron just died after getting the vaccine....BLM is still doing their thing.
What happened, whereby pushing social justice was a given on Dec 4, but it is now a matter of "trepidation" and "appeasement"?
Oh, yeah... right...
Now, let's be candid...Trump supporters are law and order folks, and Trump himself rejected those guilty of committing criminal activity on Jan 6. Nonetheless, the rabble have been tagged by the MSM et al as Trump supporters/Evil Doers. Trying to point out that destruction of property and rioting isn't a conservative trait hasn't stopped them from sliming Deplorables. They thought this was a winning recipe.
But there were still hundreds of thousands of peaceful Trump supporters. It was a striking image.
Thus, Oberland's and the advertiser/corporate folks will blame this swift about-face on the economy, the pandemic etc. (..except that those problems existed on Dec 4...).
However, the facts lead to a different conclusion: woke advertisers and companies would rather stay silent instead of going all-in on left wing propaganda on the Super Bowl and offending Trump supporters (who allegedly don't watch the Super Bowl).
They just blinked.
> ...CBS Sports’ telecast of Super Bowl LV will feature more serious advertising messages that tackle topics like racial justice, white privilege, and the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. <
I don’t know how others feel about this. But I, for one, welcome this news! And that’s because I always take my social cues from meaningless advertisements shown at meaningless events.
Here’s a revolutionary idea: why don’t you give us a cartoon of you dancing potato chips or a heart warming story about a baby Clydesdale. If corporations can get away from the notion that it’s their job to make socially aware and just sell their products, they wouldn’t be so anxious
I can’t remember the last time I saw commercial on TV for anything that didn’t feature a racially diverse group of people wearing masks and BLM shirts
I am truly saddened. I came from the area and have been a chiefs fan since their first Super Bowl. To be fair, I was a kid, but my dad liked them, so I did. But I have no intention to watch the Super Bowl this year.
Not on my tv and not in my house "it" won't.
SB ads have been awful for a long time. Now the sport matches.
Don’t waste another Sunday. Pray, rest, eat, read, listen to music, enjoy the outdoors, recharge.
#BoycottNFL
Where do you sign up for white privilege ? I haven’t gotten mine yet. I’m going to work, don’t qualify for free money, work 10 hour days, had to earn my grades in school .....
I want some.
Where in the world did they get that number from?
Haven’t watched football since they took that first social justice knee.
Wouldn’t be watchin’ in any case. Hope the go broke.
Garbage leftists. Garbage players. Garbage Bowl.
If there was ever a game I would have looked forward to, this would have been it. I have refused to watch a game this year and the Super Bowl will not be on in my home this year.
They could go retro with ads. Pepsico could appeal to the growing Hispanic market and re-introduce the Frito Bandito. Hertz could have OJ running through the airport (make it woke by dubbing him yelling “I can’t breathe” as he’s chased by white Bushite TSA agents). The Ajax knight could ride through turning everyone white. Burger King could have have trannies changing genders to ‘have it their way’.
Advertising on the Golf Channel, before NBC bought them, was 90% Cialis type stuff...that is, medicines geared towards geriatric males. That and financial services. Made sense from an advertising perspective because it was hyper focused on the largest subset of their markets. And on a sports channel they’re sure to be watching - at home and in club houses across the country. Now? Well, such targeted advertising is considered sexist and/or racist because it is necessarily exclusionary. The Golf Channel currently carries advertising for females and woke First Tee programs. I suppose it’s bad enough that the network decided old males were passé. But which advertising exec at P&G decided it was a good idea to advertise Tampons on the golf channel?
I Really don’t care on bit what they do, or don’t do. I won’t be watching. They can all rip off their clothes, stand on their heads and urinate all over themselves as far as I am concerned. But! I will admit that I will chuckle as they dwindle, shrivel up and go the way of the dodo bird.
Lately I have noticed big box stores that run TV ads ditching masks in their ads. The notable exception is Target, which seems to doubled down on woke mask wearing every ad.
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