Some People Were Really Freaked Out By Tubi's Super Bowl Ad
Tubi TV only needed 15 seconds to make the millions of people watching Super Bowl LVII aware of the streaming platform.
And all they had to do was piss them off.
It happened during the fourth quarter of the game when Fox Sports announcers Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen appeared on screen as if the Fox Network had returned from a commercial break.
But as they were bantering, an unseen hand pulled up a Tubi menu on screen, selected the 2005 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt action flick “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and clicked “play” before the Tubi logo flashed on the screen.
Oh, gosh, why don’t you just see it for yourself.
The caption for the ad on YouTube stated, “No, you didn’t sit on the remote. But on Super Bowl Sunday, we fooled audiences into thinking they did.”
Tubi chief marketing officer Nicole Parlapiano wasn’t particularly worried the ad would confuse Super Bowl viewers.
“It was intentionally so short and fun that it quickly alleviates any real concern,” she told AdAge. “Internally, we all saw it for what it was: a brilliant engagement hack that further shows our creative capacity and brand personality.”
But people weren’t necessarily happy about the gag.
Tubi should be SUED for that commercial
— Rico Bo$co (@Return_Of_RB) February 13, 2023
Tubi just got folks punched and tv remotes thrown
— Wanda Sykes (@iamwandasykes) February 13, 2023
That Tubi commercial had everyone in the living room near the remote like pic.twitter.com/GrW0btn0Kp
— Tori Peot (@ToriPeot) February 13, 2023
My husband’s review of the Tubi ad: “a lot of people just got yelled at”
— Sara Schaefer (@saraschaefer1) February 13, 2023
That tubi commercial definitely made me start a fight with my husband
— Haley Cruse Mitchell (@haley_crusee) February 13, 2023
That Tubi commercial had me looking at my dad like
pic.twitter.com/UGb06gpntr— . (@Derudontknow) February 13, 2023
nobody has ever fucked with me as hard as that tubi ad
— speedy ortiz ÷ sad13 ÷ sadie dupuis ÷ haunted guy (@sad13) February 13, 2023
But at least one person was impressed.
I did not have Tubi having the best ad in the Super Bowl on my 2023 bingo card.
— Emily Longeretta (@emilylongeretta) February 13, 2023
And another offered some constructive criticism to improve the ad.
They should have ended the ad with a clip of Never Gonna Give You Up
— elishadacey (@elishadacey) February 13, 2023