From sex and tragedy to politics and tone-deaf stunts, these Super Bowl ads crossed lines and changed the conversation.
Super Bowl Sunday isn’t just about football or the halftime show; it’s about the commercials. Designed to be unforgettable, the best of them become pop-culture touchstones long after the final whistle. With more than 100 million viewers watching, brands pay a premium not just for airtime but for cultural impact. Most aim for humor, spectacle or sentiment, but over the years, some Super Bowl ads have done the opposite, sparking backlash, public outrage and corporate apologies. These are the 10 most controversial Super Bowl commercials that made it to air, only to be pulled soon after.
Carls Jr Ad Commercial - Super Bowl XLIX 2015
Carl’s Jr. “All-Natural” (2015)
Carl’s Jr. had already built a reputation for pushing sexualized advertising, but its 2015 “All-Natural” Super Bowl commercial marked a turning point in how openly the brand leaned into controversy.
The ad starred model Charlotte McKinney walking through a crowded farmers' market, shot in a way that heavily implied nudity through careful framing and camera angles. The punchline revealed that she was wearing clothes after all, tying the visual gag to Carl’s Jr.’s “all-natural” burger branding.
Critics accused the company of using objectification as a substitute for creativity, while others questioned why a food product needed sexual innuendo to compete on Super Bowl Sunday. Carl’s Jr. defended the commercial as playful and consistent with its brand identity, but the backlash stuck.
General Motors’ “Robot Suicide” (2007)
General Motors’ 2007 Super Bowl commercial was meant to be quirky and self-aware. Instead, it became one of the most criticized ads the game has ever aired.
The spot followed a humanoid robot working on a GM assembly line that makes a mistake while installing a car part. After being fired, the robot spirals into despair, failing at other jobs before ultimately throwing itself off a bridge. The ad ends by revealing that the sequence was a nightmare, with the robot waking up back on the factory floor, reassured that GM vehicles are built with precision.
The backlash was swift. Mental health advocates condemned the ad for trivializing suicide, especially during a broadcast watched by families and children.
PETA’s “Last Longer”(2020)
PETA is no stranger to controversy, but its 2020 Super Bowl–adjacent campaign pushed familiar tactics into especially uncomfortable territory.
The ad never aired during the game itself. Instead, PETA released it online during Super Bowl week, where it quickly went viral. The commercial suggested that men who eat meat suffer from erectile dysfunction and implied that going vegan would improve sexual performance. The messaging relied on explicit innuendo, exaggerated claims and shock value rather than evidence, framing veganism as a solution to sexual inadequacy.
Medical professionals and advocacy groups criticized the ad for spreading misinformation and weaponizing shame to sell an agenda.
84 Lumber’s “The Journey Begins” (2017)
84 Lumber’s Super Bowl commercial courted controversy not through shock humor, but through politics and timing.
The ad followed a mother and daughter traveling north toward the U.S.-Mexico border, facing obstacles and hardship along the way. It was initially aired in a heavily edited version during the game, with the full cut released online afterward. That longer version revealed a border wall blocking their path, with a door opening to allow them through after they present paperwork bearing the company’s logo.
Although the company insisted the ad was about perseverance and opportunity rather than immigration policy, the symbolism was unmistakable. Airing just weeks after President Donald Trump took office and made border security a central political issue, the spot was widely interpreted as a commentary on immigration, whether intentional or not.
Just for Feet’s “Kenyan Runner” (1999)
Just for Feet’s 1999 Super Bowl commercial is now widely regarded as one of the most tone-deaf ads ever broadcast during the game.
The ad depicted a barefoot Kenyan runner being chased through the desert by a group of white American athletes. After capturing him, they forcibly strap sneakers onto his feet while he struggles and collapses, implying that modern footwear is an upgrade he doesn’t understand or want. The spot ends with the runner waking up, suggesting the ordeal was a dream, but the imagery had already done the damage.
Critics condemned the ad for its racist undertones, colonial imagery and casual portrayal of forced assimilation. What Just for Feet appeared to frame as slapstick humor instead read as deeply offensive, reinforcing stereotypes and power imbalances that had no place in a Super Bowl broadcast.
GoDaddy’s “Perfect Match” (2013)
GoDaddy spent years cultivating controversy at the Super Bowl, but its 2013 ad may have been the moment when that strategy finally curdled.
“Perfect Match” paired supermodel Bar Refaeli with nerdy character Walter, positioning them as an unlikely romantic duo brought together by GoDaddy’s online services. The punchline arrived when the two began making out on camera in an exaggerated, deliberately uncomfortable close-up that lingered far longer than expected. Not to mention the overly wet kissing sound effects.
Viewers criticized the ad for leaning on tired stereotypes, using shock value rather than humor, and confusing discomfort with memorability. Even by GoDaddy’s own standards, which had previously included banned and heavily edited Super Bowl spots, “Perfect Match” felt less provocative than desperate.
Sony’s Body Ericsson Xperia Play (2011)
The ad, created to promote the Xperia Play gaming phone, featured Android’s bright green robot mascot in a grimy underground surgical den, implied to be somewhere in Southeast Asia. Strapped to a table, the mascot undergoes an illegal operation in which human fingers are grafted onto its plastic hands. The reason is revealed in the closing line: “Android is ready to play.”
The imagery was intentionally unsettling. Flickering lights, rusty tools, and stitched flesh turned what is usually a friendly tech mascot into something closer to a horror-movie prop. It looks like it was pulled from a scene from the movie Hostel.
Critics took issue with the ad’s cultural coding. The setting leaned into uncomfortable stereotypes about underground medical practices in developing countries, layering ethical concerns atop the visual shock. What was meant to signal edgy irreverence instead came off as tasteless to a broad audience.
Sony Ericsson pulled the ad from future airings and later clarified that the spot was intended for online release rather than family viewing. Still, the damage was done.
Tim Tebow’s “Focus on the Family” Commercial (2010)
Airing during Super Bowl XLIV, the commercial featured the then–NFL star alongside his mother, Pam Tebow, and was paid for by the conservative Christian organization Focus on the Family. The message was subtle but unmistakable: Pam Tebow discusses facing medical advice to consider abortion during her pregnancy, while the ad implies that had she chosen differently, Tebow’s football success and public life would never have existed.
Unlike most controversial Super Bowl ads, this one didn’t rely on shock or spectacle. Its power came from implication. Reproductive rights groups and women’s advocacy organizations immediately criticized the commercial for framing abortion as a moral failure and for using Tebow’s celebrity to push a politically charged message during the nation’s most-watched broadcast.
Calls to pull the ad mounted in the days leading up to the game, with critics arguing that it crossed a long-standing line separating Super Bowl advertising from explicit ideological messaging. CBS, however, defended the spot, stating that it was “appropriate for air” and consistent with the network’s standards.
Groupon’s Tibet Ad (2011)
Groupon’s Super Bowl debut opens with actor Timothy Hutton delivering a solemn monologue about the Chinese government’s repression of Tibetan culture. The tone is serious, bordering on documentary. Then the rug gets pulled out. Hutton abruptly pivots to promoting a Groupon deal for cheap Tibetan food, undercutting the gravity of the subject in seconds.
Viewers and advocacy groups accused Groupon of exploiting real political oppression for humor and profit. What made the ad particularly jarring was how knowingly it mimicked public service announcements before turning suffering into a joke about discounts.
Groupon defended the campaign, noting that the ads were meant to raise awareness and that the company donated to related causes. That explanation did little to calm criticism. For many viewers, the tonal whiplash felt cynical rather than clever.
Nationwide’s “The Boy Who Couldn’t Grow Up” (2015)
Nationwide’s Super Bowl commercial follows a cheerful young boy narrating all the life milestones he’ll never reach. He won’t learn to ride a bike. He won’t get married. He won’t have kids of his own. Only at the end does the reveal land: the boy died in an accident, a casualty of preventable childhood injuries. Nationwide’s logo appears with a blunt message about safety.
The timing was brutal. Super Bowl Sunday is, for better or worse, built around spectacle, humor and communal escapism. Dropping a somber meditation on child death into that environment felt emotionally manipulative to many viewers, less like awareness and more like an ambush.
Child safety is a legitimate issue, and Nationwide later clarified that the ad was tied to its long-running Make Safe Happen campaign. The problem was tone. Viewers felt blindsided, especially families watching together, unprepared for such heavy material during what is traditionally one of television’s most celebratory nights.
What to Watch for in Super Bowl LX Commercials
Only time will tell whether Super Bowl LX delivers another slate of iconic commercials or a new batch of infamous misfires. The game kicks off Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, with coverage beginning around 6:30 p.m. ET streaming on NBC or with a Peacock subscription.
With more than just a championship on the line, including a Bad Bunny halftime show and one of the year’s biggest advertising stages, all eyes will be on whether this year’s commercials become classics or cautionary tales.
