Super Bowl ads: Better off banned?

Why gay dating site ManCrunch may be the biggest winner on Super Bowl Sunday — even though CBS won't be running its ad

Superbowl ads are a vital part of the game.
(Image credit: Creative Commons)

Focus on the Family got plenty of attention after CBS approved its anti-abortion commercial starring Tim Tebow, but the real winners in the publicity game may turn out to be sponsors whose ads got rejected. Go Daddy and PETA have milked their Super Bowl ad denials to great effect, and gay-dating site ManCrunch earned publicity it couldn't buy from its rejected ad. Is it better for business if Super Bowl viewers never see your company's commercial? (Watch Go Daddy's banned Super Bowl ad)

Zero is a great price: Super Bowl advertising is getting riskier now that so many viewers can skip commercials, says Aimee Picchi in DailyFinance. So it's great for business to produce an ad destined for rejection — you can get a "huge amount of free publicity" without the pricetag of "$3 million for 30 seconds." Given that math, ManCrunch clearly got the best return on its investment.

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