During the Super Bowl, advertisers aim to leave a lasting impression with viewers. This year, some hope to do it by grossing them out.<\/p>\n
During the commercial breaks of this year\u2019s game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, potty humor will abound. Liquid I.V. is slated to run a PSA-style national ad during the first quarter that, if its teasers are any indication, will have something to do with urination, hydration levels, and the porcelain throne. <\/em>Just before halftime, William Shatner is slated to appear as \u201cbran ambassador\u201d Will Shat in a streaming and regional spot for Raisin Bran, nodding to the scatological importance of fiber while toeing the line of acceptable profanity: \u201cWill Shat on the car!\u201d one character declares, incredulous.<\/p>\n The jokes won\u2019t stop there. In a regional ad set to run in the Philadelphia area, Garage Beer co-owner Jason Kelce repeatedly smears horse feces on his face in a not-so-subtle reference to Budweiser\u2019s famous Clydesdales. (\u201cThese beers taste great, but it smells like\u2014\u201d he says as he sips on a beer, the audio cutting out the last word.) And in lieu of a traditional TV buy, Columbia Sportswear Company released what the company\u2019s SVP and head of marketing, Matt Sutton (no relation), dubbed on LinkedIn \u201cthe Super Bowl\u2019s sh*ttiest ad\u201d: a beer brewed in partnership with the Portland, Oregon-based Breakside Brewery using bona fide bear poop that\u2019s designed to give consumers \u201ca taste of the outdoors.\u201d The name of the beer, which will be handed out at Super Bowl tailgates? Nature Calls.<\/p>\n Throughout the course of human history, gross-out jokes have served as a reliable way to get a big laugh among the adolescent set, and this year\u2019s Super Bowl\u2014or should we say, Toilet Bowl\u2014is set to bring that style of humor to an audience of millions. The sophomoric creative choices reflect brand pressures to land punchlines during a high-stakes advertising moment while also avoiding higher-risk messages that could potentially alienate audiences. (Often, the greatest short-term gamble of a bathroom joke is that a viewer wrinkles their nose with an \u201ceww.\u201d) And the humor and shock value is certainly bound to make an ad conversation fodder\u2014even if it doesn\u2019t necessarily win over consumers long-term.<\/p>\n \u201cYou wanna be talked about,\u201d Ronnie Goodstein, associate professor of marketing at Georgetown\u2019s McDonough School of Business, told Marketing Brew. \u201cPeople will talk about the shit ads.\u201d<\/p>\n In the case of Raisin Bran, there is a business reason for focusing on the health benefits of additional fiber, even if those health benefits aren\u2019t exactly polite dinner conversation. Most US adults are not meeting the daily recommended amounts of fiber, and many food companies have identified the nutrient as a growth opportunity; Raisin Bran, newly a part of the Ferrero Group brand portfolio, is planning to revamp its packaging to emphasize its fiber content, Marketing Brew previously reported.<\/p>\n Regarding the scatological-pun-filled spot it came up with, \u201cWe\u2019re just kind of hoping to deal with what can be kind of an awkward topic with humor,\u201d Doug VandeVelde, chief growth officer at WK Kellogg Co, told us.<\/p>\n Marketing Brew informs marketing pros of the latest on brand strategy, social media, and ad tech via our weekday newsletter, virtual events, marketing conferences, and digital guides.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Ditto for Liquid I.V., which wanted to acknowledge head-on the importance of staying hydrated, which its products are aimed at addressing. Urine color is \u201cthe most visible signal of dehydration,\u201d CMO Stacey Andrade-Wells told us, adding that research has indicated that it\u2019s something many Americans evaluate anyway to determine whether they should pour themselves another hydrating beverage.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve been here before. In 2013, the struggling retailer Kmart made a splash with TV ads where customers declared plans to \u201cship my pants\u201d in a did-you-hear-that-right spot promoting its home delivery program. The ad was a viral sensation, USA Today reported at the time, even though some called the ad \u201cgross\u201d and \u201cvulgar.\u201d (It did not, it\u2019s worth noting, run during the Super Bowl.)<\/p>\n But \u201cShip My Pants\u201d didn\u2019t exactly result in a business turnaround for Kmart, which continued to lay off employees and shutter stores before closing its final full-scale US location a little over a decade later.<\/p>\n Goodstein said the bathroom jokes represent a certain advertising belief that shocking or even annoying ads can result in a long-term brand recognition boost, even if the creative itself is soon forgotten. It could also represent a perhaps unintentional ad industry endorsement of the theory that \u201ceveryone is 12 now\u201d\u2014seeing as 12-year-olds, famously, love a good poop joke.<\/p>\n Some advertisers came up with ways to reference unsavory realities less directly. In Novartis\u2019s PSA-style Super Bowl spot, slated to run in the game\u2019s second half, famous NFL tight ends relax their own rear ends after learning that prostate screenings can start not with a rectal examination but with a blood test. Get it?<\/p>\n Goodstein pointed to the ad as a good example of tackling an uncomfortable topic with a contextually relevant message (the tight-end connection, if you will) while also being relatable to a subset of older men watching the Super Bowl. \u201cThere is a value proposition that\u2019s real,\u201d he said, \u201cand they made it kind of fun, and they made it context-sensitive.\u201d<\/p>\nGotta go<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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