Survey: Brands Shouldn’t Bring Politics To Super Bowl

More brands are capturing headlines by tangling with political and social issues in their advertising campaigns. According to The Wall Street Journal, a new poll suggests, however, that most Americans would rather they don’t try the same thing during the Super Bowl. And viewers are likely to get what they want.

Two-thirds of consumers call the Super Bowl an inappropriate place for advertisers to make political statements, according to the poll, conducted online this month by Morning Consult.

“The Super Bowl is definitely the wrong place to make a statement,” said Michael Ramlet, chief executive at Morning Consult, a survey research technology company.

Baby boomers in the poll disapproved of political Super Bowl advertisements more, at 77%, than younger cohorts such as millennials (55%) and Generation Z, defined as those 18-21 years old (43%). But the appetite for big-game politics was smaller than one might expect among young people, who often say they want brands to take positions on important issues. Only 35% of Gen Z respondents to the poll called political Super Bowl ads “very” or “somewhat” appropriate.

“The biggest disconnect between the general public and agencies and companies is this idea that you have to take stands to win Gen Z or millennials,” Mr. Ramlet said. “That’s not what the data shows.”

The desire for a politics-free Super Bowl is slightly stronger than consumers’ general preference, at 60%, that brands “stick to what they do and not get involved in cultural or political matters,” according to Morning Consult polling last July. But it may matter more, because marketers during the rest of the year can target their issue-related advertising toward sympathetic demographics. On Super Bowl Sunday, they’ll reach as close to everyone as advertising gets. The 103.4 million viewers who watched in 2018 was a disappointing number by Super Bowl standards but still by far the biggest television audience all year.