When families, friends and sports fans plopped down onto their couches Sunday afternoon, remote in their hands and wings on their plates, they prepared for a day devoted to one of the most patriotic things in America — football. Some stayed from kickoff to the last second, some tuned in just for the halftime show and the rest watched just to see what advertisers would bring to their screens this year.
The Super Bowl, as most people know, brings in the best commercials of the entire year. Whether they’re weird, funny, heartwarming or controversial, the commercials will be discussed almost as much as the results of the game itself. On Monday, there was one commercial that audiences were still talking about — particularly because the original advertisement was rejected to air by Fox News.
84 Lumber’s Super Bowl commercial was not lacking in controversy, according to an article by The Washington Post. Their commercial, portraying an immigrant woman and her daughter’s journey to cross the border, featured one disputed image that Fox deemed too much to air on television — a border wall. The original commercial by the lumber company showed the family heartbrokenly stop at the base of the wall while the daughter held up a handwoven American flag. Eventually, the mother saw a door made of lumber that opened their way into the land of opportunity, branding 84 Lumber as the company of opportunity.
The ad that actually aired showed a dingy wire fence in place of the more substantial wall.
It became obvious from the first commercial to Lady Gaga’s performance that the Super Bowl attempted to stay apolitical. The game celebrates American patriotism to an extreme that relatively few events have the capability of. Every commercial reflected that, even if our definition of patriotism might be changing with the inauguration of President Donald Trump. However, this direct dig at the president does not belong at the Super Bowl. Efforts were taken to keep politics away from this event, and to an extent, they were successful. Several commercials tiptoed on the line of activism and controversy, but Fox deemed that 84 Lumber crossed over into a realm of what is not allowed. As this was Fox’s broadcasting network and the National Football League’s program, they had every right to reject the original ad from airing.
To say that Fox has steered away from broadcasting political ads would be incorrect. In 2012, the media outlet aired a commercial of Clint Eastwood directly addressing failing automakers in Detroit. This year, along with 84 Lumber’s ad, Fox allowed the airing of a commercial depicting the immigration trail of Budweiser’s founder. Politics is everywhere we go and to say that not everyone has an agenda would be naïve. Fox is known for being a conservative-favoring news outlet, leading many to question if they made this decision to appease our current president.
While their actions are suspect, it is hard to deny that 84 Lumber’s original advertisement was not a direct criticism of America under the current administration. An image of a foreboding border wall, three times the size of the women below, would be an extremely controversial image to create. It would have put a negative cloud over the crowds watching the historic Patriot comeback. It’s not exactly appropriate to show something that has not even been built yet, even if Fox made this decision to look out for their best interests. Obviously the broadcasting company did not want to upset viewers during the Super Bowl by showing what life with a border wall would actually do to those emigrating, but perhaps Americans needed to see that image.
Despite having to create a new advertisement to meet Fox’s needs, 84 Lumber was still able to get their message across. The wire fence, though not as powerful as a complete border wall, still represented a restriction. This commercial gave us a literal representation of what immigration under Trump will look like. Even if 84 Lumber wasn’t permitted to show the wall, people still understood that there was some type of constraint stopping this family from entering the United States. Both commercials elicited an emotional reaction, even if the entire four-minute clip was a more powerful narrative. Cutting out the wall didn’t truly change the message of the commercial. It’s understandable that some might not want the visual of the actual wall in their heads, and no one wants to start political commentary during the Super Bowl, but the wall won’t be censored in real life. If the wall comes, and it seems like Trump will go to whatever means necessary to make that happen, we’re going to see it.
Though the intended message of this advertisement is to show that America is the land of opportunity and how a border wall would impede on our country’s precedent of letting in those that seek opportunities, it came off as muddled. It certainly pulled on our heartstrings, but the message was fuzzy. The lumber workers, the company’s only direct connection to the commercial, built a door in the wall. However, this would mean that his economic standing will improve because he got a job from Trump’s actions. It might’ve been intentional to not completely offend the administration, but it wasn’t clear whether what the company wanted to say was good or bad. The commercial that actually aired barely had anything to do with lumber at all. Their message spread, but at the cost of their brand awareness.
At the end of the day, this country has never been through anything like a Trump presidency. The American people need to understand the gravity of what Trump is talking about. Yesterday, the Super Bowl was able to distract us with touchdowns and comeback performances, but today our minds have re-entered reality. And whether we like it or not, 84 Lumber’s ad is our reality.
