The Super Bowl Ad We Didn’t See

This past Sunday millions of Americans tuned into watch the Green Bay Packers take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV. While the vast majority were watching the gridiron, millions still tuned into watch the annual showcase of TV ads. Viewers were treated to a pint sized Darth Vader using the Force for Volkswagen and Ozzy Osbourne and Justin Bieber joining forces for Best Buy. Yet, there was one commercial that was only seen by Members of the Armed Forces serving overseas that might have the most impact. Unbeknownst to many, broadcasts on American Forces Network do not have normal TV commercials. Rather, they are shown public service announcements or other informative spots. In a departure from the norm, the Department of Defense commissioned an ad which promoted the Federal Voting Assistance Program in a unique way.

Here is what Ad Age had to say about the development of the ad and the interesting twist they added into the spot:

When military personnel get up in late at night or early in the morning to see a live broadcast of the Super Bowl, they don't actually see the funny and eye-popping ads that accompany the broadcast on home shores. Instead they see a coterie of public-service announcements and other pieces about recruitment, family services and the like.

They can have high quality, but there aren't quite as many spots as non-military consumers will see stateside. "Some of them are really, really good," said Bob Carey, director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program, "and some of them you're on the eighth or ninth time seeing them."

Mullen set out to create a public service spot that could stand alongside traditional commercials, even Super Bowl ads, said Dave Weist, a group creative director at the Boston agency. "They just asked us to think outside the box and really push what people sort of considered the level of creative for a PSA," he said.

Viewers who see the spot will be taken into the inner mechanics of what might seem to be a gun of some sort in the midst of being assembled while a narrator chants the famous "Rifleman's Creed." The mantra starts: "This is my weapon. There are many like it, but this one is mine." As Tim Vaccarino, another Mullen group creative director, put it, "You think you're inside a firearm."

But as viewers quickly discover, the weapon being put together is actually a pen, which can be used to cast a vote. "Your vote is your greatest weapon," viewers are told.

Here is the link to the ad which our Service Members saw on Sunday. It was a great look at how while they are working everyday to preserve that right, they still have the ability to have their voice heard. Of all of the ads for beer, the latest summer blockbuster, and the latest cars this ad, the one that most of us will never see most likely had the strongest impact on the political process. To us it should serve as reminder that the right to vote is one of the most basic rights that our Armed Forces are fighting for each and every day and that they need their voices heard just as loud as us back home.