On Sunday, February 6, the Super Bowl aired on Fox and set an all-time high at 111 million American viewers. The Superbowlis a great opportunity for theNFLand its sponsors to gain immense exposure to a specific target audience. Not only do company’s gain exposure, they can gain credibility through their own level of entertainment value and association with theNFLbrand. The average cost for a 30-second ad during theSuperbowlruns around 3 million dollars. The cost combined with dozens of competitors requires advertisers to think outside the box. While Christina Aguilera’s lyrical disaster could be an interesting topic of discussion, the commercial campaigns are my focal point. In particularly, I would like to touch on howGroupon.comchose to expose a controversial message.
The commercial started by showing pictures of Tibet and their people while Timothy Hutton described the oppressions that the Tibetan people have been facing. This ad initially tugs at the hearts of all its viewers because touching story, tone of voice, and selection of music. Mr. Hutton, after describing the oppression, concluded “The Tibetan people still make a good FishKurriand the best place to find a deal on Tibetan food is onGroupon.com.”In my opinion, the message was completely derailed. The online community found the ad highly offensive.
Other commercials may have bordered on controversial, such as the Doritos ad in which a grandfather was brought back to life or the KimKardashiancommercial being extremely sexual. However, theGroupon.comcommercial crossed the line when it attempted to combine humor with oppression. The Doritos and KimKardashiancommercials were successful because it adhered to the human topics that are typical.
Topics about oppression such as Tibet, and now Egypt, are topics that should not be discussed in a humorous manner.
What do you think about this controversy? Should we be more tolerant of theGroupon.comcommercial?