Those Patriotic Ads: Thrown For A Loss

By Rebecca Winters

Don't expect to see Budweiser's "Whassup" guys belting out America the Beautiful, or the Coca-Cola polar bears waving Old Glory when the first commercial break in Super Bowl XXXVI kicks off Sunday. Although the war on terror continues, advertising agencies preparing spots for what is historically a day to showcase their best work say they will steer well clear of overt patriotic messages. Sensitive to charges that some ads appearing in the months after Sept. 11 crossed the line of good taste (and didn't help their clients either), agencies plan to fill the 30-sec. spots, which cost about $2 million apiece, with safer, funnier fare. "Anything that refers to Sept. 11 is dangerous," says Robert Scarpelli, chief creative officer at DDB Chicago, whose clients include Anheuser-Busch and McDonald's. "When people think you're using patriotism to sell products, they'll turn you off in a second." In focus groups of consumers conducted by marketers last fall, carmakers drew criticism for draping their 0%-financing deals in the American flag--General Motors entreated car buyers to "Keep America Rolling," while Ford called on the viewing public to "Help Move America Forward." Airline ads that equated flying with patriotism also made some viewers wince. Companies from Miller Brewing to the Vitamin Shoppe all weighed in on the tragedy in somber ads, prompting the satirical newspaper The Onion to mock marketers' sudden interest in current events with its headline "Dinty Moore Breaks Long Silence on Terrorism with Full-Page Ad."

Most advertisers have already scaled back the heavy-handed flag waving of those first few months. And the party atmosphere of the Super Bowl seems to many a good time to return to pure entertainment. But the patriotic pitch may be hard to rein in for long; the Winter Olympics begin on NBC just five days later.

--By Rebecca Winters