84 Lumber’s Super Bowl Spot Crashes Internet
Brunner’s politically-charged Big Game ad, initially rejected for controversy, caused debate among Super Bowl fans.
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Last night’s Super Bowl LI fans were treated to a controversially-topical teaser for building supplier 84 Lumber.
The minute-and-a-half- long trailer (below), created by Pittsburgh-based agency Brunner, features a Mexican mother and daughter as they embark on a journey through the desert. Along the way, the daughter collects undesirable scraps and seemingly worthless items to create a gift for her mother – which we later learn to be a handmade American flag.
The cinematically-shot spot couldn’t have come at a more fitting time as it seems to directly reference the recent presidential election.
However, last night an adjusted version was shown as the initial shortened submission was rejected by the game’s network supplier Fox and deemed too controversial for Super Bowl audiences.
Instead, the film’s storyline wasn’t entirely clear, but the end screen flashed the words, ‘To Be Continued’ and directed viewers to the company’s website to watch the full length short film.
84 Lumber’s website actually crashed once the spot was screened due to the high demand of audience members trying to access it – receiving 300,000 web requests in the first minute after it ran. Luckily, it took just ten minutes to fix.
The full commercial (above) sees the mother and daughter reaching a concreate wall – not too dismimilar from what Donald Trump is set on building – with a beautiful door carved into it. In the web film, the pair succeed in going through the door and seemingly entering America.
The spot left veiwers divided, particularly as its closing tagline mysteriously read, ‘The will to succeed is always welcome here’ suggesting that the company looks favourably on immigrant workers.
“Even President Trump has said there should be a ‘big beautiful door in the wall so that people can come into this country legally,’” says 84 Lumber’s president and owner, Maggie Hardy Magerko in a statement. “It’s not about the wall. It’s about the door in the wall. If people are willing to work hard and make this country better, that door should be open to them."
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