Entertainment

This Raunchy Super Bowl Commercial For Frozen Food Had Fans' Jaws Dropping

by Ani Bundel
YouTube

When people mention the Super Bowl, the first thing people think of after "football" is "commercials." The link between the two began in 1973, seven years after the "Big Game" started airing when a Noxzema commercial starring football legend Joe Namath and Charlie’s Angels star Farrah Fawcett put the brand on the map. (Just think, if it weren't for the Super Bowl, your face might never have belonged to Noxzema.) Every brand launching their first Super Bowl commercial hopes for that same success. These tweets about Devour's 2019 Super Bowl commercial are some of the funniest all night.

This was Devour's first year at the Super Bowl commercial derby, though the Kraft Heinz brand has been around marketing its frozen meal line since 2016. At the time, the brand was notable for the marketing strategy it went with: an NSFW angle predicated on the motto "Food You Want To Fork."

Marketing people will tell you sex sells, and it certainly did for Noxzema back in '73. The reason the commercial that launched thousands on million dollar ad spots worked was the combination of football and sexual innuendos. The slogan was “Let Noxzema cream your face,” and Namath declared, “I’m so excited, I’m gonna get creamed,” as Fawcett rubbed the product on his face.

Devour wasn't quite so ready to bring the food porn before 10 p.m. apparently. Instead, for their inaugural Super Bowl spot, it ran with an addiction angle, still NSFW, and hilarious to boot.

Twitter fans were startled.

But what may have really shocked viewers at home was to discover this commercial is the censored version. The NSFW version actually uses the word "porn," which CBS said was against the rules. The uncensored version is being promoted currently by the Devour Twitter account under the hashtag #FreeTheFoodPorn. Clicking on this hashtag also leads to coupons for Devour's mac and cheese bowls, along with other frozen food favorites, naturally.

CBS might have taken the porn out of the Devour commercial, but the network can't take the Devour commercial out of the porn. It turns out the brand actually ran spots touting this ad's debut on Pornhub. I suppose when you're committed to a gag, the tendency is to take it as far as you can.

The idea of commercials like this one is to sell the idea of sex to the consumer at home. Back in the 70s, the Noxzema commercial did so by making every man at home want to be Joe Namath and making every woman want to be Farrah Fawcett.

The Devour commercial didn't quite follow that model. It was definitely selling to a corner of the audience, but not necessarily the ones who want to be the guy who can't stop eating their frozen food. Instead, it hit a nerve and perhaps made a few people feel seen who might not have necessarily wanted to be.

Will Devour's gamble work? At least they've guaranteed people remember them.