Backlash And Backpedaling Over Super Bowl Ads
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In the wake of this year’s mostly craptastic round of Super Bowl ads, companies would like you to know that 1) They are smarter and more ironic than you and/or 2) Their external ethnic advisory board told them they’re not racist. Oh, never mind then.
Let’s start with Groupon, which posted a defense of its Timothy Hutton/Tibetan ad by saying they meant to be offensive — because they’re making fun of you! And themselves, sort of:
When we think about commercials that offend us, we think of those that glorify anti-social behavior — like the scores of Super Bowl ads that are built around the crass objectification of women. Unlike those ads, no one walks away from our commercials taking the causes we highlighted less seriously. Not a single person watched our ad and concluded that it’s cool to kill whales…Our ads highlight the often trivial nature of stuff on Groupon when juxtaposed against bigger world issues, making fun of Groupon. Why make fun of ourselves? Because it’s different…what type of company would go out of their way to be so antagonistic?
You can buy that that was the intention and still believe the Super Bowl’s blunt cudgel is no place for irony, but it remains a bad ad — confusing, lacking any real connection to the brand itself, even an insincere commentary trying to have it both ways (celebrity charities are ridiculous! Now donate to a charity!). Even if it was directed by Christopher Guest. But maybe the problem was that it was too real? Here’s the theory from blogger (and grad student, duh) Aaron Bady, via The Atlantic: