This year’s Super Bowl will most likely ban cryptocurrency-related ads, CNN reported February 2.
Paul Hardart, a clinical professor of marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business, said audiences will likely see a “notable shift” away from technology-related ads, especially those involving crypto and AI.
Hardart said in a statement to CNN:
“Given current global uncertainties, including geopolitical conflicts and a polarized political climate… advertisers are leaning toward feel-good ads that focus more on fun, humor and entertainment – in line with the uplifting spirit of the Super Bowl.”
Crypto-related Super Bowl ads peaked in February 2022. The event followed Bitcoin’s all-time high in November 2021, and although Bitcoin’s price had fallen in February, FTX, Coinbase, Crypto.com and eToro all ran ad spots , seemingly in an attempt to capitalize on previous hype around pricing.
That trend ended as suddenly as it began. The next Super Bowl in February 2023 featured no crypto ads. Reports at the time suggested that three crypto companies were planning to secure or had secured ad spots. Yet these advertisers eventually pulled out following the collapse of FTX months earlier in November.
The most important development this year – the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs – is positive. But while ads for crypto ETFs are drawing attention elsewhere, no asset managers have announced ads in the upcoming game.
At least two AI ads are planned
Hardart suggested that Super Bowl ads will turn away from AI this year. Despite that claim, Etsy remains plans to broadcast an ad promoting Gift Mode, a feature that uses AI and human management to automate gift selection.
Google also stated that it is a ad for its Pixel phone. That ad focuses on Pixel’s AI accessibility features for blind and visually impaired users. However, the ad takes a narrative approach and does not explicitly mention AI.
In previous years, there were similarly few AI ads. Dialpad, which advertised its AI-powered customer intelligence platform in 2023, is one exception.
There’s more hype around chatbots and general-purpose AI services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. There are no signs that either company will advertise their product during this year’s Super Bowl event.