16542: Adland Stages Super Bowl Of Systemic Racism.

 

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.