The 5 most politically controversial Super Bowl ads of all time

I suppose we had to post something about the game today. With 80 million of you watching, it would have been strange to ignore it.

So this seemed the perfect compromise between fulfilling a need and not giving into the temptation to join the overhyped, oversold, over the top coverage of what is, after all, a children's game.

It's the ads, of course. At $3.5 million for a 30 second commercial, advertisers vie for creating the most memorable, the weirdest, the most obscure, and the worst ads of the year. And The Hill has what it says are the 5 most politically controversial ads of all time:

Jason Rose, a public relations expert in Arizona and partner of the firm Rose, Moser and Allyn, said the sheer size of the Super Bowl audience drives companies to take a risk in advertising.

"If every advertiser has spots that look like Tide commercials, they're going to fall flat and they're not going to make their mark," he said, adding that a bit of provocativeness can "cut through the clutter."

President Obama didn't advertise during the Super Bowl in his 2008 run for the White House. But his campaign benefitted from a devastating ad that remixed one of the most famous Super Bowl ads ever.

Adapting the "1984" Apple ad that premiered during the Super Bowl 28 years ago, an Obama fan's video showed a blond female athlete throwing a sledgehammer at a huge screen of then-Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) talking to people who appear brainwashed.

The ad, which only appeared on the Internet, ended with this message: "On Jan. 14, the Democratic primary will begin. And you'll see why 2008 won't be like 1984.

Over the last decade, there have been a handful of ads that have prompted outrage from politicians and political groups.

The five ads are: Pepsi Max, Focus on the Family, Sales Genie, Snickers, MoveOn.


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