Not that too many of us need a refresher, but last year wasn’t great, and most, if not all, of the socio-political issues that plagued us then still plague us now. And while last year’s game was as exciting as a Super Bowl showdown gets, leaving the hype of the annual advertisements to come in second, 2019 was a different story. A lackluster game (at best) left many an eye trained on an onslaught of ads from the usual beer and automotive suspects, and while I wanted to come away feeling like advertisers “got it,” so to speak, I got a much stronger impression that they were issue-dodging.
Representation-wise, it was a mess. Maybe it didn’t feel like it to some -- I don’t know -- but I barely remember a handful of commercials starring people of color, and I’m including the one with the M&Ms (they are brown, on the inside at least). Point being, besides Cardi B and Lil Jon’s Pepsi commercial with Steve Carell, that 2 Chainz and Adam Scott Expensify commercial and that Doritos commercial starring Chance the Rapper and the Backstreet Boys (pictured below), what else was there, really? Craig Robinson? Sure, that might sound like a lot, but remember these are literally the only three or four commercials starring high-profile people of color that I can even remember. There were at least fifty “Official Big Game Ads” this year. At least.
In my circles, the big conversation surrounding the game this year was the coveted halftime show performance, and what it would look like given the tense climate on and off the field. It’s a pretty simple situation to grasp, actually. Off the field, people of color, specifically black men and women, have been getting unjustly shot and killed during “incidents” with police officers across the nation, and while some situations are more nuanced than others, and some are as cut and dry as straight up murder, the resounding reaction by anyone with a brain has been that the killing must stop.
On the field, American activist and now ex-NFL player Colin Kaepernick chose not to stand during “The Star-Spangled Banner,” as opposed to tradition, during a 49ers preseason game in 2016. In a later interview, he explained, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.">