With everything happening in politics lately it's no surprise that it managed to make its way into some of the Super Bowl commercials on Sunday. In fact, there's one particular ad that tried tackling the controversial issues surrounding immigration. The 90-second commercial showed a Mexican mother and her daughter on a journey to cross the border into the United States. It was a commercial for 84 Lumber and it was the kind of thing that would make anyone with a soul tear up. But unfortunately Fox (of course) found it to be "too political" and forced the company to make some major edits. You have to see the full commercial though!
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The commercial not only touched on immigration, which has become a huge controversy in this country but it also depicted a massive wall on the border that one could assume represents the wall Trump wants to build. So of course, Fox would find it to be "too political" and decide not to run it. It's not the only political Super Bowl ad either. Budweiser ran a commercial on the co-founder's Adolphus Busch's immigration journey to the U.S., though they denied they were actually making a political statement.
Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPo2B-vjZ28
"Ignoring the border wall and the conversation around immigration that's taking place in the media and at every kitchen table in America just didn't seem right," said Rob Shapiro, the chief client officer at Brunner, the agency that worked with 84 Lumber to create the ad. "If everyone else is trying to avoid controversy, isn't that the time when brands should take a stand for what they believe in?"
The ad almost didn't get to run but 84 Lumber eventually made some edits to the commercial that triggered Fox to finally approve and air it on Sunday. The wall at the border that was originally in the ad was replaced with a barbed-wire fence in some versions. The commercial sent viewers to their site to watch the ending. But the key here is that the message still gets across.
Personally, I think it was brave of 84 Lumber to create this commercial for the Super Bowl. It's like Shapiro said, we can't just ignore what's happening politically and we can't just avoid controversy. Now more than ever we need to speak up and stand for what's right, even if it means rubbing a few people (or networks) the wrong way.
Image via 84 Lumber/YouTube
