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Watch the Super Bowl Ads That Appeared to Take On Trump

2 minute read

Super Bowl commercials often have a patriotic bent — remember Bob Dylan proclaiming, for Chrysler in 2014, that there’s “nothing more American than America”? — but rarely in the past have they had a sociopolitical ax to grind. However, this is a new era, and during Sunday night’s game, many of the ads that aired tackled themes of diversity and tolerance in the face of President Donald Trump’s move to restrict immigration into the U.S.

For instance:

1. Budweiser ran a commercial eulogizing its founder, Adolphus Busch, himself an immigrant who came from Germany to the U.S. — where he was told, according to the ad, that he’s “not wanted here.” But he crossed the American frontier and settled in St. Louis; the rest is history. Some Trump supporters are now calling for a boycott of Budweiser in the wake of the advertisement.

2. 84 Lumber, a relatively unknown construction supplies company, gave us what might be the most talked-about commercial of the night: a long saga of a Hispanic mother and daughter making their way north to the U.S. border, only to be confronted with a looming, monolithic wall. The original cut of the ad was reportedly banned by Fox, who deemed it too political, but the full version is now available:

3. Google has recently rolled out Google Home, a voice-activated domestic assistant, and to advertise it, the company brought a multicultural cast to present the happiness of the American home in diversity — a challenge, perhaps, to those Americans who believe otherwise.

4. It’s A 10, a hair-product company, warned Americans that we’re “in for four years of awful hair.” Enough said.

5. What’s more American than America, Bob Dylan? Coca-Cola, and their minute-long Super Bowl spot was sweet and to the point: a montage of young Americans singing “America the Beautiful” in a host of different languages. “Together Is Beautiful,” the tagline reads.

 

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