Super Bowl ads entertaining, controversial

Every year along with the halftime show and the game itself, the Super Bowl TV spots are the most discussed topic for better or worse. Like all things, the commercial spots ranged in quality, but they were sprinkled with a bit of controversy thanks to the marketing geniuses over at Ram.

Some of the positive standouts this year were ads by the NFL, Amazon, Toyota, M&M’s, Budweiser and Tide. While the majority of the negativity was targeted at Ram for using a speech from Reverend Martin Luther King Jr to sell pickup trucks, other companies like Bud Light, Kia and Febreeze definitely carried their share of the cringe load.

One of, if not the most, talked about ads was Tides “It’s a Tide ad” series of ads that featured David Harbour – the “Stranger Things” star. The commercials all appeared to be an advertisement for different things like jewelry and Mr. Clean products, among other things, before David Harbour popped up stating that they were in fact Tide ads due to how clean the clothes were in said ads.

Another talked about ad was from M&M’s that featured Danny DeVito from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” as the real-life version of the red M&M, in a Pinocchio-esque commercial. It featured DeVito running around a street asking strangers if they would like to eat him.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is Ram’s attempt at selling pickup trucks by overlaying a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. That alone is enough to warrant some backlash. However, in that very same speech, King speaks against the rampant consumerism.

“Now the presence of this instinct explains why we are so often taken by advertisers. You know, those gentlemen of massive verbal persuasion,” King said in his speech “The Drum Major Instinct.”

This is not only ironic but contradictory to what MLK’s estate said when asked why they allowed this, according to “The New York Times’” Sapna Maheshwari.

Eric D. Tidwell, the managing director of Intellectual Properties Management (the company in charge of MLK’s estate and the licenser of said estate) said that once the final creative was presented for approval, it was reviewed to ensure it met their “standard integrity clearances.”

“We found that the overall message of the ad embodied Dr. King’s philosophy that true greatness is achieved by serving others,” Tidwell said.