Are Sexy Super Bowl Ads A Thing of the Past?

We found very little change in the usage of common executional techniques such as celebrity endorsements, humor, emotional appeals and the inclusion of animals in the ad. There was one notable exception, however, in that over the last several years, the use of sexual appeals has declined and in the last few years, almost disappeared.

While the decline in sexy Super Bowl ads is arguably not too surprising, since its inception, the Super Bowl had seen a significant number of sexy ads, including some that were much talked about. Pepsi’s 1992 spot featuring two young boys being stunned while watching supermodel Cindy Crawford buy a can of the soda from a vending machine and then drinking it makes many lists of the best Super Bowl ads of all time. Diet Coke’s 1998 “Break” ad depicted a number of women admiring “hunky” shirtless man delivering Diet Coke was well received.  And Ali Landry’s 1999 ad introducing Dorito’s 3-D snacks is another that was largely praised in its time and regarded as being effective for the brand.

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