Money. It is universally understood that money is a prime motivator behind why people do the things they do. It also explains the questionable actions that companies take to make a profit. Confused? Look at the wide and suspicious array of 2024 Super Bowl commercials.
When a 30-second TEMU segment hit the screen, people started furrowing their eyebrows in confusion at this e-commerce company’s advertisement. Then, when the Scientology advertisement hit the screen, eyebrows shot back up in surprise and suspicion.
Rewind the tape: the TEMU advertisement is of a lady surrounded by earth-shatteringly cheap deals, with price tags showing numbers as low as $0.99. The advertisement ends with the quote “Shop like a billionaire.”
At the surface level, nothing seems amiss. TEMU, a Chinese e-commerce site, went live in the United States in September 2023 and has since gone viral… for the wrong reasons. A quick google search of TEMU’s most recent news headlines yields suspicious results. With articles titled: “TEMU facing a class-action lawsuit in Illinois over data privacy concerns” (CBS News), “TEMU is collecting user data including text messages and bank info, claims Grizzly Research” (CNBC), and “Most-downloaded app in App Store sells products linked to forced labor in China, analysis shows” (LA Times), TEMU is far from the family-friendly app that the Super Bowl seems to be endorsing. Audience members who know about the scandals surrounding TEMU are now asking Super Bowl: why? Sadly, the answer is simple. The Super Bowl– just like any other business– is interested in profit. The result is that they blindly endorse dangerous organizations without an ounce of thought for the audience. By endorsing advertisements such as the TEMU one, companies are heralding an era of “money over consumer.” The unspoken consequence is the effect of the messages companies implant into the minds of viewers.
Even more concerning is the Scientology Super Bowl advertisement. Scientology, or the Church of Scientology, is a religious organization that has faced numerous cult allegations. In 2012, France labeled Scientology as a fraud, and numerous informal reports show elements of a pyramid scheme that aimed to make the leaders of Scientology rich while placing heavy restrictions on members, refraining them from leaving. The 123 million people who tuned into the 2024 Super Bowl are unfairly subjugated to dangerous advertisements, simply because Scientology was able to provide several million dollars for a 60-second segment. The advertisements from the most recent Super Bowl show that they advertise with no regard for consumer safety– especially young children who watch the game whose highly impressionable minds absorb the advertisements without any second thought.
In an era of technology, misinformation, and troubling content that extends to every corner of the internet, it is the duty of advertisement broadcasters to shield viewers from potentially dangerous products or organizations. The TEMU and Scientology Super Bowl advertisements demonstrate that protecting consumers is not a concern for many large advertisers. The Super Bowl, along with many other large broadcasters, are putting money over viewers. Going forward, advertisers must do better– for the millions of consumers who rely on advertisements to make informed decisions in their lives. These consumers do not deserve to be blindsided by getting their private information sold, nor do they deserve to be indoctrinated into a shady religious cult. Superbowl, do better.
