Advertising
Age published a lengthy report exposing an annual
event summarized in the content title: Super Bowl Ads Continue To Lag In
Diversity.
It’s bad enough that the
super
exclusivity persists—and even worse that it
happens during Black History Month—but this year unveiled a few new twists on classic
stunts. That is, White advertising agencies and White brands stepped up their
games of deferring, delegating, diverting, deceiving, delaying, and denying progress.
Call it the Super Bowl
of Systemic Racism. Here are highlights of sneaky game plans executed by repeating
chumpions:
• Many White advertising
agencies and White brands declined to participate, ignoring Ad Age’s
inclusivity inquiries. In the real world, failure to show up translates to
conceding defeat.
• Performative
PR served as a routine play—that is, numerous
White advertising agencies and White brands dodged providing specifics, opting
to lateral contrived and clichéd DEIBA+ gobbledygook.
• Sports figures and
recording artists of color played—yet the majority of celebrity endorsers are
White. The stories in most spots are White too, lacking authentic cultural cues
and themes.
• Asian American
representation sucked, with one of the few standouts in the category—Popeyes—hyping Louisiana Kitchen authenticity by featuring comedian Ken
Jeong. And Jeong’s recruitment benched Annie
the Chicken Queen and her Nonsensical
Successor—blocking extra points
for diversity.
• Overall representation
from historically underrepresented groups remains fuzzy, as White advertising
agencies and White brands counted White women in diversity numbers—and that
segment probably comprised the majority of “minority” stats.
• Some White advertising
agencies and White brands publicized the active integration of Chief
Diversity Officers and ERGs in the creative and production processes. Sorry, but this scheme
is the modern-day equivalent of tapping mailroom attendants and cafeteria
workers of color as consultants. Bringing such executives to shoots and
post-production facilities feels like staged optics (or optical illusions)
designed to counter the reality of predominately White teams.
• Super Bowl advertising
analysts acknowledged decreased diversity after a spike in 2021, reflecting
increased industry indifference and disinterest for DEIBA+ initiatives.
In short, cultural
cluelessness reigns in Adland, fortifying an undisputed discriminatory dynasty.
Super Bowl ads continue to lag in diversity
The majority of directors behind the 2024 Big Game commercials are white
men and there is a lack of authentic, diverse storytelling, according to Ad
Age’s early analysis
By Lindsay Rittenhouse
Super Bowl advertisers are once again lacking in bringing
authentic, diverse storytelling to the big stage, despite continuing to make
diversity, equity and inclusion commitments.
For the third consecutive year, Ad Age asked every Super Bowl
advertiser with plans to air national, in-game commercials about how they
prioritized diversity and inclusion in the creation and production of their
ads. This includes how they approached casting, diversity within the agencies
they worked with and the makeup of those working on the production. Ad Age will
continue to track this data as more advertisers reveal their in-game ads for Super Bowl LVIII.
Some brands had very clear action steps and outlined ways they
implemented these practices in the conceptual and production phases of their
ads, but many, once again, declined to provide specific details on the makeup
of their cast and those who worked on their ads.
Others—including Uber Eats, Volkswagen, E-Trade, State Farm
and Unilever (for its brand Dove, which has an in-game ad)—provided no
specific details or instead offered generic DE&I mission statements that
essentially said they support the cause without disclosing any specific
efforts. BetMGM noted that 50% of its production crew identified as a person of
color, but declined to answer any additional questions. Anheuser-Busch
InBev (which has ads for Bud Light, Budweiser and Michelob Ultra) and Reese’s
did not respond to survey questions, only sending a list of credits for who
worked on each of its spots.
Squarespace, Drumstick, Coors Light, Nerds and Doritos declined to
participate.
Astellas, CeraVe, CrowdStrike, e.l.f. Beauty, Etsy, Homes.com,
Kia, Lindt, Microsoft, Mtn Dew, Skechers, Snap, Starry, Temu
and T-Mobile did not respond to the survey as of press time.
One of the biggest issues in attempting to measure diversity and
track progress both in front of and behind the camera continues to involve
guidelines that prevent requiring crew members or cast to disclose information
about how they identify. Multiple brands, including FanDuel and Oreo, cited
these guidelines as hurdles to providing detailed data.
“As one might have predicted, what we’ve seen from the majority of
Super Bowl spots that have been released or teased for 2024 is a rinse and
repeat of a tired combination,” said Ben Hennes, chief creative officer and
co-owner of agency Happylucky. “Cast majority white, majority male celebrities
and place them in predominantly white, western storylines.”
Diversifying casting
Of the 71 celebrities Ad Age confirmed will appear in Super Bowl
commercials, 23 identify as female, while 48 identify as male; 16 are Black,
four are Hispanic, two are Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) and five
are two or more races. This analysis does not include those who appear in the
ad who are not celebrities.
The majority of celebrities—44 as of press time—starring in this
year’s Big Game commercials are white.
In terms of Black representation, this year’s Super Bowl will
feature A-listers including Mr. T, who stars in Skechers’ ad promoting
its Hands Free Slip-Ins shoes; comedian Eric Andre, who stars in Drumstick’s first Super Bowl spot; Minnesota Vikings’
Justin Jefferson, the New Orleans Saints’ Cameron Jordan and New York Giants’
Saquon Barkley, who appear in the National Football League’s ad; rapper LL Cool
J driving the “Chill Train” in Coors Light’s spot;
Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson in TurboTax’s commercial; and R&B icon
and halftime performer Usher making cameos in
commercials for brands including BMW and Uber Eats.
The NFL’s “Born to Play” commercial also
features a cast largely from West Africa. “It was important to us to make sure
the casted roles were filled with actors from the region. Four hundred of the
cast members were Ghanaian, nine were Nigerian, one was South African. Two
members of the cast were female,” said Marissa Solis, NFL senior VP of global
brand and consumer marketing.
Solis said for the NFL’s “Tackle Bullying” and “Mental Game”
commercials, “80% of on-camera principals” are people of color and “69% of
background talent” are people of color.
BMW said two of its three commercial acting leads were people of
color “and the rest of our cast were a mix of white people and people of
color.” M&M’s reported 81% of its on-camera principals are representative
of diverse groups. The candy maker’s spot includes
NFL players Dan Marino, Bruce Smith and Terrell Owens, and actress Scarlett
Johansson.
For its first Super Bowl commercial, the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism will feature lawyer
and activist Dr. Clarence B. Jones, who assisted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in
drafting his “I Have a Dream” speech.
The ad, created by Black- and Asian-owned agency Quantasy
& Associates, is made up of a cast that was 95% inclusive of people of
color and LGBTQ+, according to the organization, which broke down the race of
the 11 cast members as such: “Black (4), Bi-Racial (2), Caucasian (2), Muslim
(1), LatinX (1), Asian (1).” Of the 11-person cast, six identified as men and
five, women.”
“Our commitment to diversity goes beyond numbers; it extends to
the creative process,” a spokesperson for the foundation said. “For this story,
diversity was critical to the concept. The spot is about standing up to and
speaking out against the growing violence and hate speech towards multiple
communities based on religion, ethnicity, gender identification and/or sexual
preferences.”
Come Near (the organization behind the Jesus
campaign) said 40% of its cast for its 15-second “He Gets Us” spot from agency
Lerma are female, 60% are people of color and 20% are LGBTQ+ (that the
organization is aware of). The organization said it is not clear if any cast
members have disabilities. For its 60-second ad, Come Near said 59% of cast
members are female, 50% are people of color, 12% are LGBTQ+ and 12% have a
disability.
Skin tone inclusion in Super Bowl ads saw a spike in 2021
following the 2020 U.S. racial justice movement, but since there has been a
slow decline in representation of people with darker skin tones, according to
Alltold, a self-described people-first responsible AI company that measures how
people on screen were shown over the last 50 years along six identity
dimensions: gender expression, age, skin tone, sexual orientation, body size
and visible disability.
Alltold reported a jump in commercial screen time for darker skin
tones in the 2021 Super Bowl to 35% from 21% in 2020. “But since 2021, the
screen time for darker skin tones has dropped [about] 3.5% per year,” the
report said.
“As we’ve all seen in 2020, there was an increased attention and
focus on racial justice initiatives, on equity across the board, and increased
commitment to DE&I and the 2021 Super Bowl is where we see that manifest in
ads,” said Alltold CEO and Co-Founder Morgan Gregory, who is a former Google
Research executive, “and since then we’ve seen a bit of a retreat.”
There was some backlash to companies that took a public stance on
the racial injustice movement of 2020, and “so you started to see a lot of
organizations pull back on some of their more vocal commitments,” and that is
reflected in the ads, said Jarvis Sam, CEO and founder of multi-services DEI
firm The Rainbow Disruption and Nike’s former chief diversity, equity and
inclusion officer, who contributed commentary for the Alltold report.
Hispanic representation and authentic campaigns
TelevisaUnivision will air the Super Bowl’s Spanish-language
broadcast for the first time, and multiple brands such as Nissan,
Audi and Metro by T-Mobile have announced campaigns that
will air only there.
When it comes to the CBS broadcast, Doritos’ ad is being hailed as
one of the only commercials in this year’s Super Bowl to authentically
represent Hispanic culture through its storytelling.
The Doritos spot features a high-speed chase by Hispanic actor
Jenna Ortega’s abuelas, “Dina and Mita,” who are after the bag of Doritos
Dinamitas that Hispanic actor Danny Ramirez picked up first in the grocery
store.
“That one is interesting since the stars are the abuelas,” said
Isaac Mizrahi, president and CEO of multicultural ad agency Alma, noting how
the Dinamita product itself is true to the culture, being taquito-like rolled
tortilla chips. “That makes it more authentic and relevant.”
Outside of that ad, Mizrahi said “I haven’t seen anything
significantly different from a multicultural standpoint in the early release of
Super Bowl ads.”
“Yes, there is some diversity casting from a celebrity-filled
perspective, but almost nothing from storytelling,” he said. “This is curious
since nearly 50% of all Gen Z consumers in America are from a diverse
background, so most advertisers seem to continue to address a ‘general market’
audience that does not exist anymore.”
A recent Ad Age-Harris Poll survey found
younger generations will be looking for diversity in Super Bowl commercials
this year, though there is a generational divide.
According to the poll, baby boomers were most averse to ads with a
diversity theme, with just 14% approving, compared with 31% approval from Gen
Zers and 32% approval from millennials. Only 19% of boomers favored putting
people of color in the ads and just 10% supported LGBTQ+ casting. That compares
with 40% of Gen Zers and 33% of millennials who said they want to see people of
color, with 23% of Gen Zers and 19% of millennials backing LGBTQ+
representation.
Outside of Doritos, rapper Ice Spice, who is Dominican and Black,
stars in Starry’s Super Bowl ad; “Suits” actor and Afro-Latina Gina
Torres is featured in the star-studded e.l.f. Beauty commercial;
comedian Aubrey Plaza, who is Puerto Rican, stars in the Mtn Dew ad for its Baja Blast drink; and Argentine pro
soccer player Lionel Messi fronts Michelob Ultra’s beach-set spot.
The “overwhelming majority of the talent on the ads” released so
far are “white, non-Hispanic,” said Lisette Arsuaga, the co-president and
co-CEO of DMI Consulting and co-founder of the Association of National
Advertisers’ Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing. She said this
could hurt brands’ abilities to connect with Gen Z and millennial audiences, a
large cohort of which are Hispanic.
Arsuaga said she looks at a few components of an ad when
evaluating it for authenticity of culture. She used Michelob Ultra’s ad with Messi as an example—he shows
off his soccer skills in the ad, which includes cameos from white male
celebrities: “Ted Lasso” actor Jason Sudeikis and former NFL player Dan Marino
(which marks his second appearance in this year’s Super Bowl alongside the M&M’s
spot he is also featured in).
First, she said Messi is shown in a positive light, which is a
plus. “He’s portrayed doing something that he does best.” It’s also humorous,
which she praised. “Other than that, is there culture beside that? No, not
really.”
“There were opportunities there to connect with Hispanics outside
of Messi, with the folks on the beach who could have maybe said a line in
Spanish, ‘Mira [look] Messi,’” Arsuaga said. “Using Spanglish in key ways
allows you to connect with Hispanics in very, very important ways; whereas it
doesn’t lose your other consumers. So that was a missed opportunity.”
Toyota in its “Dareful Handle” ad, has
one line in Spanish, as a passenger refers to the handle in the Tacoma as they
go off-roading as the “no me gusta” handle.
Some people saw Doritos’ ad as “typecasting.”
“There is still typecasting across the board,” said Daniel
Gonzalez, creative director of Remezcla, a media company focused on Latin
American culture. “Black celebrities find themselves promoting soft drinks,
while Hispanic celebrities are relegated to endorsing spicy snacks. As brands
think of meaningful inclusion, think of this absurdity, can we dare to dream of
scenarios without stereotypes? Say, Jenna Ortega buys insurance; something
crazy to think about.”
Asian American representation sorely missed
Popeyes’ ad, from agency McKinney, is one of only two ads to
feature an Asian-American celebrity: Korean-American actor Ken Jeong, best
known for his roles in the sitcom “Community” and “The Hangover” film series.
The other is BMW’s ad, which stars Christopher Walken and features
Korean-American actor Ashley Park.
The Popeyes ad, “The Wait is Over,” shows
scientists unfreezing a cryogenic Jeong (who later in the spot is perplexed by
all of the technological advancements in the world), and presenting him with a
tray of Popeyes chicken wings. The ad is a nod to the fact that the fast-food
chain finally added chicken wings to its menu.
The ad was directed by Calmatic (Charles “Chuck” Kidd II), one of
only two Black directors confirmed in this year’s Super Bowl. McKinney’s
30-person agency team behind the ad is comprised of 17 women, 10 people of
color and 15 from minority ethnic backgrounds, according to the company.
The brand and agency team behind the ad sought to “challenge
stereotypes” in the casting. For example, the brand said it challenged the idea
“of who ‘scientists’ are. The scientists in the opening scene are from diverse
backgrounds, including African American, Hispanic, Asian and white. The lead
scientists are African American, and the background actors throughout represent
the racial/ethnic and gender diversity of urban U.S. markets,” according to a
Popeyes spokesperson.
Genny Hom-Franzen, executive director of the Asian American
Advertising Federation, said she’s disappointed by the lack of representation
of the AAPI community. She said “efforts to reach Asian Americans have been
sporadic and inconsistent” in and outside of the Super Bowl, and that’s a
missed opportunity because “consumers these days are smarter and vote with
their wallets. They buy from companies they like and trust, and they don’t buy
from the ones who are not genuine or don’t seem to value them.”
“Sadly, there has never been a Super Bowl ad with authentic and
genuine Asian representation,” Hom-Franzen said. “Asian Americans are the
fastest growing consumer segment with significant impact on pop culture, and we
appreciate it when marketers see the opportunity to reach us. There are many
reasons why marketers should connect with us: rapid growth, brand loyalty,
technology adoption, smartphone and social media usage, and concentration in
geographic areas to name a few.”
Disability representation and accessibility
Google has one of the most inclusive Super Bowl commercials. Its
60-second ad for its Pixel 8 phone was partly filmed with a camera obscured by
petroleum jelly, a choice blind director Adam Morse made to transport people
into the point of view of a blind character, Ad Age earlier reported.
The tech giant worked with agency Gut Miami and the commercial,
“Javier In Frame,” tells the story of a blind man who falls in love and starts
a family. “When you’re dealing with a very specific point of view like this,
one with a character who is blind … I think it is the only way to do it for it
to become visceral and ultra-emotive,” Morse told Ad Age in an earlier
interview.
Morse added in a statement to Ad Age, that “this film is not a
representation of how I see exactly, but more an impression of my perspective
to put viewers in the head of the character and translate the visual experience
in a visceral way. For me as a filmmaker, I’m excited and passionate about
expressing impactful themes, and executing those stories in an original style.”
“It’s absolutely crucial that we highlight accessibility features
like Guided Frame because the technology empowers the global disability
community and [gives] a way for users to express themselves and connect with
others,” Morse continued. “When we do this, we better the mental health of so
many individuals and elevate the disability community, going against the
stigma.”
“With ‘Javier in Frame,’ we wanted viewers to understand that
people who are blind or low-vision enjoy taking pictures as much as anyone
else,” said Daryl Butler, VP of Google devices and services marketing. “And
Javier’s story is one that anyone can appreciate, human truths like falling in
love and starting a family.”
Google championing a blind man in its ad is notable because of the
lack of representation for people with disabilities historically in ads, and
especially in the Super Bowl. According to the Alltold report, only 66 people
with visible disabilities have been detected in Big Game commercials over the
past 50 years (out of about 20,000 people total).
“To me, Google must always be mentioned for the inclusive work
that they showcase during the Super Bowl, but the fact that they also bring it
into the product is stellar and goes well beyond inclusive casting to actual
inclusive design,” said Janis Middleton, executive VP and chief inclusion
officer of Guided by Good—the company started by independent agency 22Squared
that houses a portfolio of firms “dedicated to changing the world’s
understanding of advertising.”
In terms of accessibility elsewhere, some brands including Oreo,
FanDuel, the NFL and Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, noted that they added
closed captions to some commercials.
Hellmann’s said it also used Unilever’s “industry first Inclusive
Set Commitment that provides industry access and opportunities to mentees or
crew members from the disability community. Using Unilever’s open-sourced
Inclusive Production toolkit, we worked to make the set an inclusive place to
be for everyone, making the necessary adjustments ahead of filming and mentee
participation.”
Brands including AB InBev, Coors Light, Doritos, Dove, Drumstick,
E-Trade, Nerds, Reese’s, Squarespace, State Farm, Uber Eats, and Volkswagen did
not respond to questions regarding accessibility.
Female empowerment and body positivity
Dove’s Big Game ad, from creative agency Ogilvy, shows girls across various sports
taking spills, but argues that skill level is not what drives them out of the
game, low body confidence does. The Dove ad was directed by Lucy Bridger, one
of only two female directors confirmed in the Big Game.
“One thing about Dove is that they are consistent and take
chances,” said Victoria Jordan, a general manager for branded content and
creative at multicultural media company My Code. “I think the way they used a
solid data point was key in how they delivered their message and I applaud them
for continuing to bring up conversations that will benefit and uplift women.”
Though a Unilever spokesperson (for Dove) declined to answer many
of Ad Age’s specific diversity questions, the company did say that it
“collaborated with a global, female-led team that included Ogilvy agency
colleagues and director Lucy Bridger. With our Big Game spot, we feature a mix
of user generated content (UGC) and original footage of real girls playing
sports to bring awareness to the idea that 45% of girls globally drop out of
sports by age 14 due to low body confidence—this is twice the rate of boys. We
collaborated with diversity, equity & inclusion partners and mental
health professionals from the start of our project.”
Dove is not only empowering girls to stay in sports but it is also
championing body positivity.
Both of those aspects are important and lacking in Super Bowl
spots.
Alltold evaluated gender expression [which was calculated by
visual clues, as you can’t assume someone’s gender just by appearance] in Big
Game ads in its report and found that people who get screen time with a
feminine gender expression has increased to 35% in the past three Super Bowls
from 21% in the 1980s. Still, if increasing screen time for people with a
gender expression by 5% a decade continues, “it would take another 30 years to
reach on-screen gender parity,” per the report.
Body inclusivity for people with a feminine gender expression, on
the other hand, is sparse, according to the report. Over the past 50 years, 65%
of people with small body sizes have had feminine gender expression and that’s
increased to 68% since the early 2000s. “As we go up in body sizes, we’re less
likely to see people with feminine gender expression,” the report said.
Larger body types for people with a feminine gender expression are
also rarely seen in a positive, inclusive manner in advertising’s storytelling,
The Rainbow Disruption’s Sam said.
“Why is it that a Black woman in a larger body is only featured
through a comedic lens in any form of advertising?” Sam said. “We never show
her as an intellectual.”
In terms of representation of female celebrities in ads, there are
some high-profile female stars including comedian Tina Fey, Jane
Krakowski and Glenn Close in the Booking.com ad; Ice Spice starring in Starry’s
commercial; Kris Jenner fronting the Oreos campaign; Aubrey Plaza in Mtn Dew’s ad; Quinta Brunson in
the TurboTax commercial; TikTok creator Addison Rae in Nerds’ spot; and
e.l.f.’s spot stars “Judge” Judy Sheindlin along with other female celebs
including singer Meghan Trainor, Heidi N Closet from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and
“Suits’” Gina Torres and Sarah Rafferty.
LGBTQ+ representation lags
LGBTQ+ representation is also lagging in Super Bowl commercials.
From Ad Age’s count, only six celebrities starring in this year’s
Big Game ads are openly part of the LGBTQ+ community including Ice Spice for
Starry, Kate McKinnon for Hellmann’s, Benito Skinner and Heidi N Closet for
e.l.f., Aubrey Plaza for Mtn Dew and Dan Levy (who will appear in ads for Homes.com). And there are very few campaigns
representing authentic LGBTQ+ stories.
“While the NFL proudly states football is for everyone, this
year’s advertisers are unfortunately sitting on the bench,” GLAAD President and
CEO Sarah Kate Ellis wrote in an email to Ad Age. “Advertising needs to play
the long game to be business forward, one in five members of Gen Z are
LGBTQ and more than 50% are self-described allies so Super Bowl advertisers are
missing out on a major opportunity to attract the next generation of employees
and consumers.”
Ellis called on advertisers to include more diversity in their
Super Bowl commercials during Wednesday night’s NFL and GLAAD third annual
Night of Pride event.
Volkswagen’s
“An American Love Story,” from agency Johannes Leonardo, celebrates the German automaker’s 75-year history in
the U.S. The extended cut released today features a wide array of VW customers
who make up the “soul” of the brand, according to the ad, including a lesbian
couple who share a kiss in one of its cars on their wedding day.
Meanwhile,
Bud Light’s 60-second ad from agency Anomaly stars rapper Post Malone, former
Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, actor Sonny Valicenti and UFC CEO
and President Dana White, who has come under scrutiny for standing behind pro
fighter Sean Strickland after he made homophobic remarks. Bud Light’s decision
to enlist White comes after nearly a year of sales declines and backlash
following its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
According to
the Alltold report, which looked for LGBTQ+ romantic moments in Super Bowl ads,
the first in-game ad to feature a gay or lesbian couple was in 2014—the Coca-Cola spot was praised for
featuring two dads who take their daughter roller-skating. Since then, only 10
Big Game commercials saw such LGBTQ+ representation, according to Alltold.
“The
fundamental question in this is not necessarily what are consumers comfortable
seeing on television,” Sam said. “It really centers around how do advertisers
think about buying power and spending power of some of these communities and
where are they comfortable making strategic investments in it to support
diversification of the consumer that’s watching it?”
He said
Super Bowl advertisers continue to ignore LGBTQ+ people because of the
stereotype that “because people tend to not align our community with sports.
Furthermore, professional sports and, specifically, the NFL have struggled with
the navigation of homophobia and transphobia for a number of years,” Sam said.
Leaning
on resource groups
Some brands
also pointed out that they worked with diverse resource groups to help them
craft their commercials and create more inclusive storytelling.
For example,
Pringles said “from the onset of strategy and creative development we consulted
our internal Business Employee Resource Groups (BERGs), including the Kellanova
African American Resource Group (KAARG), Hispanic Resource Group HOLA, Collage
Group and multicultural agency Cien+, who contributed to insights used in the
development of our ad spot to ensure inclusivity across cohorts.”
Popeyes said
it sought counsel from McKinney’s executive director of equity, diversity,
inclusion, and belonging, Chandra Guinn. “As needed, we engage with members of
Chroma, McKinney’s Employee Resource Group for colleagues of color to gain
deeper insight and perspectives on the work. Both of these internal resources
were involved in the creation of this ad,” the brand said.
For “Born to
Play,” Solis said the NFL “sought out consultation from our internal DEI
leadership and Black ERG, as well as an outside perspective from trusted
professionals that were specifically knowledgeable about Ghana. We sought out
the expertise of Osi Umenyiora, a former NFL star and Super Bowl Champion from
Nigeria who today runs the NFL’s Africa Camp to ensure the authenticity of the
scene, the players and the storyline in the narrative.”
For its
other two ads, Solis said the NFL “also consulted lots of research,
testimonials from kids that had been bullied or struggle with anxiety and
worked with Everfi, the NFL’s partner in creating the online modules for
students to help give them the tools to build healthier relationships and
stronger resilience, to make sure we were representing the gravity of the
issues at hand, but also treating them in away that is not traumatic for the
viewer.”
Although
E-Trade declined to give any specific details for the survey, it did say that
it “leveraged market research and multiple diversity and anti-racism resource
groups to review our diversity, equity and inclusion strategy, and to provide
feedback throughout the process,” and 72andSunny New York, the agency behind
its spot, had its director of equity, diversity and inclusion “on set
throughout the shoot, as well as reviewing content post-production.”
Representation
behind the camera
Of
the 46 directors confirmed doing Super Bowl commercials this year
(some will direct more than one ad), only two are women. Jess Coulter directed
M&M’s commercial and Lucy Bridger is behind Dove’s ad.
Only six of the directors are people of color: Calmatic (Charles
“Chuck” Kidd II), who is Black and directed Popeyes’ ad; Andrew Dosunmu, who is
Black and directed NFL’s “Born to Play" spot from agency 72andSunny; Taika
Waititi, who directed the TurboTax ad, identifies as half Jewish and half
Māori; Mike Diva, a Korean-American director behind DoorDash’s spot; Mohammad
Gorjestani, who is Iranian American and directed NFL’s “Tackle Bullying” and
“Mental Game” spots; and Tarsem Singh, who is directing the Toyota and
CrowdStrike ads.
All of the
remaining 38 confirmed directors are white men. One of those is
Google’s director, Adam Morse, who is blind.
Elsewhere in
production, Pringles said its commercial was executive produced, produced, and
production-managed by women, and the brand tapped Cien+, a multicultural
agency, to help in production and casting.
Come Near
said 51% of its production crew for its 15-second “He Gets Us” were female, 16%
were people of color and an estimated 5.5% to 8% were LGBTQ+ (that the
organization is aware of). For its 60-second ad, Come Near said 37% of crew
members were female, 42% were people of color and 14.7% were LGBTQ+. The
organization said it is not clear if any crew members for either spot had
disabilities.
TurboTax
said the team at R/GA, the agency behind its Super
Bowl spot, was “68.4% female and 31.6% male; 18.4% Black, 10.5% Hispanic
or LatinX, 10.5% Asian, 2.6% American Indian, 57.9% white.” On the production
side, “R/GA is pledged to the Free The Work organization designed to include
diverse partners in all of our competitive bids. Of the lead artists and
partners who were awarded for the project (such as director, photographer,
editor, etc.) roughly 56% identified as underrepresented,” the company said.
The NFL
worked with Little Minx, a certified female-owned production shop, to produce
its “Born to Play” Super Bowl spot. According to the NFL, 96% of the 100-person
crew that self-reported were people of color, “with the majority of them being
from Ghana.
Seven
U.S.-based crew traveled for the production, 70% of them are POC.” The agency
behind its ad, 72andSunny Los Angeles, was 36% diverse.
Even / Odd,
a minority and immigrant-founded and owned production company, produced its
“Tackle Bullying” and “Mental Game” spots; 54.35% of the production crew that
self-reported identified as people of color.
The Martin
Agency created Oreo’s spot and its team comprised of 77% women and 54% people
of color. Only half of the Oreo spot’s Hungry Man production crew responded to
a diversity survey. The findings are as such: 20% identified as female, 5% as
Black, 11% as Hispanic, 1% as Asian, 1% as American Indian or Alaska Native and
1% as Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. PXP also helped produce the
commercial and its team was comprised of 75% women and 41% people of color.
FanDuel’s ad
was created by Wieden+Kennedy New York, of which 56% are people of color and
10% are LGBTQ+ individuals. Wieden+Kennedy Portland did DoorDash’s commercial
and 13% of that team are Asian, 15% are Black, 4% are Latinx, 2% are Middle
Eastern or North African, 17% are of two or more races, and 17% are LGBTQ+.
DoorDash
said, “Our director is Korean-American, a member of the production company
leadership is LGBTQ, one of our lead VFX producers is POC, one of our sound
mixers is female, and our composer is AAPI. We are also working with a
certified woman-owned prize company to coordinate the official rules and
fulfillment of the sweepstakes.”
M&M’s
said “roughly” 62% of the BBDO New York and Omnicom agency team working on its
Super Bowl commercial were “from underrepresented groups, including women,
individuals part of the LGBTQ+ community and people of color.”
The
Foundation to Combat Antisemitism said its Quantasy & Associates’ agency
team were all people of color or women, while 50% of the production crew were
diverse.
Zulu Alpha
Kilo worked on Booking.com’s ad and its 25-person agency team was 60% women,
“with nine nationalities represented.”
Kawasaki
said its Super Bowl ad’s “edit team was 83% female. Our post work was completed
by The Mill U.S. which consists of 40% women and 32% individuals from diverse
racial or ethnic backgrounds.”
BMW said 59%
of its production crew were people of color.
Hellmann’s
production crew was “42% female and 42% of the crew identified as Asian,
Latinx, African American or mixed race.”
In-game
advertisers including AB InBev and TurboTax said they do not collect data on
the people who work on the commercials.
Many of the
ads that so far have been praised by people in the industry are the ones with
diverse directors including the spots from Dove, Popeyes and
Google—underscoring the importance of having a diverse behind-the-scenes team.
DMI
Consulting’s Arsuaga said “diversity of thought” has to start “within the brand
itself, within the company itself,” as well as within agency teams. “It’s the
diversity of the agency and within the brand that's important,” she said.
Arsuaga said
that the ANA and AIMM have seen people of color impacted the most from layoffs in the ad and marketing industry. “The impact has
been heavily seen with diverse segments being laid off and those numbers are
actually either going down or have not gone up yet,” she said.
This is
ultimately going to be reflected in the work, and already is showing up in the
lack of diversity in Super Bowl ads, Arsuaga said. Citing ANA and AIMM data,
she said 64% of consumers “say they're most strongly motivated to support
brands that advertise on TV with diverse storylines, influencers and
representation.”
“And yet we’re not seeing
that at the Super Bowl the way we should be,” Arsuaga said.
