Onscreen Inclusion Across 50 Years of Super Bowl Ads

In the United States every year, the Super Bowl draws more than 100M viewers. Of the 10 most-watched TV broadcasts in the US of all time, #1 is the Apollo moon landing, #10 is Richard Nixon’s resignation speech, and the rest are Super Bowls (source).

Precious few ad spots get bought up by the biggest and boldest brands for multiple millions of dollars. Budgets to envision and produce the ads are sky high. Reporting on Super Bowl ads - ads, not the game - starts in mid-November and continues through late-February.

We know that inclusive ads drive business results. With so much time, money, and attention given to the ads, we had some questions: who are the brands choosing to represent their products on screen? Are those people as diverse as the audience watching? How has inclusion and representation changed in Super Bowl ads over time?

This report is our way of answering those questions.