We're only a week away from the biggest sporting event of the year in the USA, and while some wonder whether Peyton Manning will cement his legacy as possibly the greatest quarterback to ever play professional football, whether Richard Sherman will bring his vaunted defense against Manning and boast about it afterward, whether Bruno Mars will put on the greatest halftime show ever, or if the weather conditions will resemble the famous Ice Bowl of 1967, some people are actually looking forward to watching the ads broadcast during the big game. Of course, the big companies will be there pitching their wares (the major beer companies, the major soft drink companies, the major car companies, the major mobile telecommunications companies, and the major movie studios giving sneak peeks of their summer blockbusters), and some ads have become legendary in the own right, not only for their artistic value ("Mean" Joe Greene and the young fan with a Coca-Cola, Apple Computer's 1984-themed MacIntosh ad, Volkswagen's young Darth Vader ad) but for boosting the bottom line of the companies behind them. But not all Super Bowl commercials have been that great, and some companies have found themselves at the wrong end of the NFL's and TV networks' standards and practices department. This may have been accidental in the past, but it may very well be by design in this age of social media.
Now, there have been ads that have aired during the past Super Bowls that probably should have been banned due to objectionable content (in the year of the infamous Nipplegate incident, there were commercials featuring crotch-biting dogs, flatulent horses setting people on fire, and a barrage of erectile dysfunction ads), but only a few commercials were actually banned due to objectionable content. Go Daddy has made a cottage industry of pushing the envelope when it comes to airing racy and/or objectionable content during the big game, and thanks to the presence of YouTube, they can air edited versions on television while encouraging others to view their racier stuff online. And even Bud Light had a commercial banned from the Super Bowl due to objectionable content.
But the banned Super Bowl ad list really took off after the animal rights group PETA tried and failed to get their ad on during the big game in 2009.
Now some people would wonder why a politically charged interest group would air an ad during the Super Bowl anyway, but maybe the whole purpose was to generate free publicity for their cause with the cachet of the Super Bowl while not actually paying Super Bowl ad rates. Since this year's Super Bowl going ad rate is $4 million for a 30 second ad, it doesn't make sense for most companies to advertise their wares in that venue, especially since the majority of companies in the USA probably allocate that amount of money towards their annual marketing budget. But that hasn't stopped some two-bit companies from trying to jump on the Super Bowl bandwagon.
The NFL and major TV networks are pretty conscientious about the type of ads they will air on television, and the NFL's broadcasting policy for commercials can be found here. In short, it bans the airing of gambling ads, firearms, pornographic material, tobacco, and otherwise objectionable political and social ads. But that hasn't stopped people from "trying" to get their ads on during the big game.
In 2011, adult dating site Ashley Madison (which actually caters to those seeking extramarital affairs) claimed to have offered up this commercial to air during the Super Bowl only to have it "banned:"
And last December, a firearms manufacturer called Daniel Defense put out this ad to air during this Super Bowl but was rejected.
Now this rejection got a lot of press in right-wing media, but considering there have been no firearms commercials airing on television since ever, and that it was a blatant violation of the NFL's advertising policy, my guess is this company was piggybacking the Super Bowl to get free publicity. In fact, a lot of companies have been "banned" from the Super Bowl, not for objectionable content, but for not being able to pony up the multimillion dollars the networks are charging companies to air during the big game.
So when you hear stories this week about the ads that are being rejected from this year's Super Bowl, remember that this may have been part of the marketing ploy all along.