Top 10 Banned Super Bowl Commercials

Smart Beep

Trouser cough, one-person jazz band, the toothless one speaks, or whatever fun euphemism you use, one thing’s for sure, many people find farting funny. Well, not Fox, apparently. In 1999, paging company “Smart Beep” put together an advert involving a blind date. With the woman briefly sitting alone in the car before her date gets in, she lets one rip. Well, turns out she wasn’t by herself. The man then introduces her to the couple in the backseat. If horror movies have taught us anything, it’s: always check the back of the car when you get in. The backseat woman tries to be nice while her partner looks like he’s going to be sick.

The Ashley Madison Agency

Ashley Madison is a controversial dating service. After all, one of their main demographics is people in relationships looking for a bit on the side. And Fox, the broadcaster of the Super Bowl in 2011, wasn’t a fan of their advert. In fact, they deemed it “not acceptable.” In it, adult actor Savanna Samson arrives at a meeting and informs everyone her husband is cheating on her. We then see everyone in the room has been getting up to raunchy things. For some reason, one guy is making eyes at a capybara, which is unsettling. We finish with a budget explosion putting Samson in a state of undress, just for good measure. It’s very bizarre.

84 Lumber

With tensions high in 2017 thanks to Donald Trump’s plan to build a wall at the Mexican border, building supply company 84 Lumber wanted to reference this in their commercial at the Super Bowl. However, Fox rejected it on the grounds it was too political. Instead, the company aired a shorter 90-second version on TV entitled “The Journey Begins”, with links to watch the full version, called “The Entire Journey” online. The story shows a woman and a child in Mexico making the journey to the States. However, after reaching their destination, a massive wall blocks their entry. Just about to give up, they spot a door and walk through it. This advert was made for a recruitment drive, hence the end tagline, “the will to succeed is always welcome here.”

Snickers

In 2007, Snickers thought the best way to sell their nutty delight was to create a commercial that’s since been deemed homophobic. After complaints from the Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD, it was pulled from broadcast by Masterfoods USA, one of Mars’s divisions. In the ad, two mechanics are working on a car when one of them gets snacky and takes out a Snickers. The other gives into temptation and does a “Lady and the Tramp,” resulting in the two freaking out from unintentionally locking lips. They proceed to do so-called “manly” stuff like drink engine oil and rip out their chest hair to scrub away the incident. It ends with a stereotypical gay guy propositioning the duo.

Bud Light

If you’ve ever gone skinny dipping and it goes well, then the happy memory will last a lifetime. But for this couple in Bud Light’s 2007 commercial, it likely leads to an eternity of trauma instead. With no one around at night, the two get into a swimming pool au naturel. As they enjoy the moment, we then see the pool has a below ground window leading into a bar. At the glass is a crowd who cheer, all while drinking the branded beer. To make it worse, the patrons take out their cameras and photograph the swimmers, alerting them to their accidental exposure as the flashes light up the water. The ad was apparently banned for the racy content.

Durex

Sometimes, you completely understand why a commercial is prohibited. In 2012, condom brand Durex created one that features an older man hysterical at having successfully committed armed robbery. Next, we see the same man, as evident by the mole on his face, at different stages of his earlier life. He causes horrible crimes throughout, including implied assault and putting a cat in an oven, both with a deranged smile that will haunt us for a while. Yikes. It finishes with his mother, with the same genetic mole, getting steamy with a guy. The two decided to do the deed without protection and thus release evil upon the world.

KGB

Not only has Sean Gunn been in MCU and DCEU, but his career has also taken him into another acronym project, the KGB commercials. In this advert, two Knowledge Generation Bureau emergency workers arrive to deal with a problem at a golf club. Two women state that their husbands got into a discussion about climate change, resulting in both having their heads up their backsides. The two waddle around in this uncomfortable position when they could have used KGB’s services to prevent this. Then at the end, with another guy struggling with tunnel vision, he sinks a putt, declaring, “it’s in the hole,” just to drive the point home some more.

SodaStream
Now, when watching this commercial, you might assume this was banned for its somewhat racy content by Scarlett Johansson. But no. Promoting SodaStream in 2014, the Black Widow actor shows off the easy process of making your own fizzy drink. She then removes her robe to reveal a little black dress and drinks the contents suggestively to make the product go “viral.” But that’s not enough. Johansson ends by apologizing to Coke and Pepsi for either her preference for Soda Stream or seemingly putting them out of business. And this is what drew the ban hammer. Considering the two companies are big advertisers for the Super Bowl, there’s speculation that they pressured Fox to ban it, but Coca-Cola denied this. After this rival slander was removed, the SodaStream advert was okay to broadcast.

Airborne
Companies like to use a bit of risqué content to sell their products. And, to be fair, it often works. But not for Airborne in 2005 when they saw their commercial thrown in the reject pile. In it, we see the iconic actor Mickey Rooney sitting in a sauna with others, with only a towel to cover his modesty. But once someone coughs, a screaming Rooney rushes to the exit, letting his virtue cloth fall and showcasing his pristine derrière to great effect. According to reports, Fox was likely concerned with promoting such imagery after THAT infamous performance the year prior by Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, which gave CBS a $500,000 fine.

PETA
PETA loves to create controversial campaigns. Regardless of whether you agree with the message or not, the fact you’re talking about it shows that it’s a success. In 2009, they decided to highlight the intimate lives of vegetarians, but to the extreme. The seductive advert has models de-kitting to hardcore music before getting very personal with vegetables, such as licking a pumpkin and sniffing broccoli – for some reason – and other titillating things. Well, this veggie video didn’t pass by NBC unnoticed, who asked for edits, which PETA refused. Instead, the animal rights group released the advert online and let their ire be known on the decision through their blog.