I’m sure almost all of you watched the commercials this past Sunday. Many people look forward to the usually entertaining and comical commercials the Super Bowl provides us with. But this year the commercials were downright sad. You can view the ones deemed “saddest of 2015” here:
Nationwide, Nissan, and Microsoft all used advertisements using children in order to evoke emotion. As if the sad children weren’t enough, Dodge threw in a commercial with cute old people reminiscing on the glory days. If none of those got your tear ducts working, then I challenge you to watch the Budweiser puppy commercial. If this advertisement didn’t make you shed a few tears into your beer, then you might want to get checked out. Overall, the commercials had a more somber tone this year. But why?
According to Variety, the latest research shows that consumers have been proven to switch to products that support social causes. They predict that this means the Super Bowl ads could be more serious for years to come. But is their “social cause” as moving when it is only a lone commercial geared to make them more money? Or is it beneficial that consumer’s social interests will be reflected and supported by companies? What do you think?
-Spencer Brenes, James Cronberger, Jill Jardine
IMC Hawks Blog 
I thought there was a bigger reason behind the somber commercials this year! I had never thought about this angle from companies. It’s a very interesting find. Does this mean that the companies are actually adapting a new brand of wanting to car about more social causes? Or are they simply trying to make a profit off the consumers emotions.
I’m interested to find out what happened throughout the year. Are they going to continue this string of emotional commercials or are they going to revert back to the most common types of comedic commercials. Personally I hope they stick with this type of commercial.