4 controversial ads from Super Bowls past

Every year the ads played between the Super Bowl draw as much, if not more attention, than the game itself.

This year is no exception, with GoDaddy pulling an ad from the line-up days before the game.

The web hosting company faced backlash for their “Journey Home” ad, which depicts puppy-owners putting the dog up for sale online. Critics, including the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said the ad promoted puppy mills by highlighting potentially unethical dog-selling tactics.

 

Here’s a look at some controversial ads from Super Bowls past:

Controversy bubbled up for Scarlett Johansson when she appeared in a 2014 ad for kitchen appliance-maker SodaStream.

The ad sparked outrage on two fronts, one in geopolitics and one in the comparatively insignificant world of corporate competition.

The Israeli company has long been criticized for operating a factory in a contested West Bank settlement, but Johansson’s involvement was extra-controversial given her volunteer role with Oxfam, which opposes trade with the settlements.

Johansson stepped down from Oxfam and stood by her endorsement. Another mini-controversy erupted when Fox refused to show a version of the ad dissing Coke and Pepsi, who also advertise during the Super Bowl.

 

An advertising agency once thought it would be a good idea to run an ad depicting four white people drug and kidnap a black man and force him to wear Nike running shoes.

Just For Feet, a shoe store, ended up suing the ad agency that created the spot for the 1999 Super Bowl. They later dropped the suit against Saatchi & Saatchi.

 

Holiday Inn aired an ad during the 1997 Super Bowl that likened the billion-dollar renovation of their hotels to a transgender woman coming out as trans at her high school reunion.

 

In 2009, NBC rejected this “Veggie Love” spot for being too sexually graphic. The network asked the animal rights organization to remove particularly offensive scenes, including those of a woman “touching her breast with her hand while eating broccoli” and “rubbing pelvic region with pumpkin.”

Instead PETA put the ad on their website along with NBC’s list of demands.

 

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