The 10 Most Controversial Super Bowl Commercials In History

Considering the transgender community is still facing discrimination and backlash in 2016, imagine the conservative uproar when Holiday Inn aired this ad nearly twenty years ago. The 30-second bit spotlights “Bob Johnson,” who, thanks to a hefty amount of cash, no longer has to hide his true identity. Bob resembles Holiday Inn’s franchise after they spent close to a billion dollars on revamping their international hotel chain. And while the franchise’s representation of the trans community is questionable at best, traditional viewers weren’t necessarily focused on the political correctness of the commercial, but that it was cleared to air in the first place.

Remember Just for Feet? No? That’s because they went bankrupt in 2000 after this Super Bowl ad. The commercial, which features a Kenyan runner outracing a group of white hunters who track him down, drug him, and slap a pair of Just for Feet sneakers on him, erm, rustled a few feathers. Millions of viewers called out the spot for its blatant racism, but the company blamed the ad agency they employed to make the commercial. After some unsuccessful finger-pointing, however, Just for Feet was forced to close its doors less than a year later.

After the 9/11, nationalism was at an all-time high… as were anti-terrorism campaigns. Yet, this particular spot from the White House’s Anti-Drug Office took things a little too far when they suggested recreational drug use directly funds terrorists. Re-watching the ad now is nothing short of cringe-worthy, but the public was outraged at the time — igniting drama between Partnership for a Drug Free America and its ad agency before the spot was taken off the air.

For one of its many pro-real beauty campaigns, Dove chose to spotlight women of a certain age to help promote a new product line, Dove Pro-Age. But shocker: dudes watching the Super Bowl don’t want to see naked women who remind them of their grandmothers — especially between footage of cheerleaders in crop tops. The negativity surrounding the ads overshadowed Dove’s positive spin growing on older, furthering the stereotype that women who are “old” are no longer sexy.

Snickers, known for their attention-grabbing TV spots, chose to take things a bit further in 2007 by featuring two token manly men — mechanics, to be exact — in a Lady and the Tramp scenario. But instead of spaghetti, it was a Snickers bar and rather than look away from each other coquettishly, these two M-E-N decided to rip out their chest hair to prove they still had testosterone running through their veins. The ad, which checks all the boxes associated with homophobia, did not resonate well with viewers.

You know what’s hilarious? Blatant sexism. No? Well, Dodge thinks so. In 2010, the car company chose to perpetuate the stereotype that women are nagging heathens in order to convey how badly their vehicles want to be driven. That men, who are kept down by their female counterparts, are left with but one vice: to drive. The most maddening thing about this ad is that it aired only six years ago. Progress, ladies! Right?

When good-looking, God-fearing, football-throwing “miracle baby” Tim Tebow joined the Denver Broncos back in 2010, conservative campaigns saw it as a sign from Jesus himself. Using Tebow and his mother, Pamela; anti-abortion group, Focus on the Family, hired the mother-and-son team to convey to (misguided, female) audience members to keep their unwanted children because hey, he (because unborn female fetuses are apparently inferior in this case) could be the next Tim Tebow.

Hey, remember when Groupon used the ongoing crises in Tibet to promote cheap travel deals? I bet Timothy Hutton does. As do we, every year, when we look back on controversial Super Bowl ads. This one in particular, however, is especially uncomfortable. And to think it was OK’d by a group of so-called professionals is even more shocking than the commercial itself.

A spoof of Budweiser’s acclaimed Clydesdale/puppy ad, Go Daddy tried and failed to recreate the cuteness that captured America’s heart the year before. Following a golden retriever pup on his or her way home after getting bumped off the back of a pickup, the ad hits its controversial point when the little dog finally makes its way back to safety and is immediately sold — using Go Daddy. All together now, “Noooooooooo, you monsters!”

It’s almost as if Nationwide gathered around a table and asked themselves, “How can we create a commercial that will not only make viewers super uncomfortable, but also kill their Super Bowl buzz?” It was the ad heard ’round the world after the little boy revealed he was, in fact, dead thanks to a preventable accident. As sad as it was important, Nationwide should have better known its audience.

BONUS: And who could ever forget the Miller Lite Catfight debaucle?