With the Super Bowl just two short days away, big brands are clamoring to release a spot that viewers will remember for the rest of the year. Sometimes, that means being risqué as we’ve seen with Go Daddy the last few years. However, when the shock factor is taken too far and a group of people is offended, that’s when it runs the risk of getting banned, which is an absolute nightmare for a brand that has just spent all that money to advertise during this game. Mashable discusses four ways in which Super Bowl ads can get banned and provides examples of past banned spots. With the exception of the ad for a pornography website, which we completely understand, we don’t really see much wrong with the other ads. At least not enough to warrant them being banned completely. However, R&M came across a similar situation years back when we shot a commercial for a local car dealer. In the commercial was a clown juggling in a costume wearing a big red wig and red nose. Believe it or not, someone actually called the dealer himself and stated that the commercial offended him because he believed that it made fun of redheads. We are not making this up. It just goes to show that you’re not going to please everyone, and these brands run that risk every year when they use tactics to make their ads as memorable as possible. It’s up to them to decide if the reward is worth the risk. We’re interested to know what you think about the banned ads. Offensive or not?
