Meanwhile other large tech companies that have become familiar advertisers at the Super Bowl, such as Amazon, are expected to return. (Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
The ad influx signals the growing power of tech in society and American culture.
After a year of stay-at-home orders and quarantines, these businesses are playing a more prominent role in American life as the pandemic has transformed the economy. Businesses that were just start-ups or on relatively shaky financial footing just a few years ago now have the financial resources and momentum to secure some of the most expensive of ads of the year.
The ads are hitting as the coronavirus pandemic is even transforming how many people will be watching the game on Sunday. Rather than large parties or gatherings in bars, tech companies are bracing for a record number of Americans to be streaming the game on their couches via services such as Amazon Firestick or Roku.
Even companies that have very little to do with Silicon Valley will be highlighting the growing role of social media in this always-online lifestyle. In one of the most buzzed- about prereleased ads, the fertilizer company Scotts & Miracle Gro will feature actor John Travolta making a TikTok dance video with his daughter.
But tech companies are taking a risk in buying up the prime airtime.
Companies are juggling a difficult balance in airing ads in 2021, as they navigate the challenges of striking the right tone at a time when many Americans are dealing with financial hardships, illness and the losses of loved ones as the pandemic death toll hits more than 450,000.
Some companies are opting to directly take on the challenges of 2021.
Indeed, a job recruiting website running a Super Bowl ad for the first time will be airing a spot highlighting the experiences of people looking for and finding jobs during the pandemic. The company said it will also run a simultaneous social media campaign to highlight industries that are actively hiring.
“We feel that highlighting real people and their stories as part of the ad helps to accurately portray the experience of finding a job during such a tumultuous time, and we want to honor what job seekers are going through in the most authentic way,” said Jennifer Warren, Indeed vice president of global brand and communications, in a news release.
Many companies are still trying to keep the mood light and inspirational, even in the face of struggles.
UberEats tapped Mike Myers and Dana Carvey to reprise their popular “Saturday Night Live” Wayne’s World characters for Sunday’s commercial. The ad aims to highlight the importance of local restaurants during the pandemic, and the company said it will also be donating $20 million over the next six months to support small restaurants.
“We are incredibly conscious that the Super Bowl sage comes with a lot of power and responsibility,” said Georgie Jeffreys, Uber Eats’s head of U.S. and Canadian marketing.
Its rival DoorDash will be airing a minute-long spot during the first quarter featuring Daveed Diggs and the Sesame Street muppets. Titled “The Neighborhood,” the company says it will focus on highlighting the many ways the company enables local businesses — beyond restaurants — to deliver goods.
“The essence of the spot is about optimism — giving something back to our communities in the hopes of brightening their days and building a groundswell of support for our neighborhoods,” said David Bornoff, DoorDash’s head of consumer marketing.
But already some of Silicon Valley’s ads are facing a backlash online.
Robinhood, the app at the center of controversy over the seesawing stock prices of GameStop and other stocks, is expected to air a commercial touting the message that “We are all investors.”
But Twitter users have already hurled brickbats at the company for spending millions on such a spot just days after it restricted trading of certain volatile stocks, including GameStop — sparking a wave of outrage online and scrutiny from Washington lawmakers.
One constant will be Amazon’s ad.
Facebook, Microsoft and Google haven’t yet said if they’ll be advertising on Sunday. But Amazon will be back with another star-studded ad for its Alexa products. Here’s a preview:
Our top tabs
The schism that split a pro-Trump message board signals the growing battles over extremism online.
Jody Williams, a moderator of TheDonald, is speaking out about how a site founded to form an online rally for Donald Trump devolved into a forum that instigated the Capitol attacks, my colleagues Craig Timberg and Drew Harwell report.
“People definitely used the site to communicate and coordinate,” he said, echoing the conclusions of independent researchers.
Williams’s story — and that of the platforms he moderated — is a cautionary tale about the Internet’s dark side. But critics say Williams, who owned TheDonald.win and took it offline after President Biden’s inauguration, was fueled by bad blood between fellow moderators and a self-interested business calculation.
Social media companies take action against account thieves.
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter disabled accounts tied to an online forum where criminals hijack and sell high-value accounts, Krebs on Security’s Brian Krebs writes. It’s a big blow to the forum, whose users say they’ve brokered tens of thousands of trades.
A Facebook representative said it’s the first public enforcement takedown it has taken against the group. Twitter said its investigation was done “in tandem with Facebook,” and TikTok said it “will continue to focus on staying ahead of the ever-evolving tactics of bad actors, including cooperating with third parties and others in the industry.”
Amazon is forcing warehouse workers to take on graveyard shifts.
Workers have been told to work the 1:20 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. “megacycle” or be fired, Motherboard’s Lauren Kaori Gurley reports. Amazon’s treatment of its workers has come under fire in recent years, with critics blasting it for issues from surveillance to not being transparent about coronavirus infections in its ranks.
In Chicago, where the company’s warehouses are transitioning to the new model, an organization of workers isn’t happy:
“We have to choose this option or lose our jobs,” a Chicago warehouse worker told Motherboard. “It’s not a real option. They’re basically telling us ‘you’re fired.’ ”
Amazon says the new model increases customers’ windows to make orders and improves delivery station experiences and integration.
Dominion asked social media companies to preserve records for its lawsuit.
It wants Facebook, Parler, Twitter and YouTube to preserve records on conservative account-holders including former president Donald Trump and his campaign, my colleague Rachel Lerman reports.
The voting machine company is demanding the companies keep the posts “because they are relevant to Dominion’s defamation claims relating to false accusations that Dominion rigged the 2020 election,” according to the demand letters from Dominion’s law firm Clare Locke. Dominion sued Rudolph W. Giuliani and Sidney Powell for more than $1.3 billion each last month, alleging that the lawyers defamed Dominion by saying the machines were used to steal the election from Trump.
News of the letters came as another voting technology company, Smartmatic, sued Fox News, Giuliani and Powell for defamation and disparagement, our colleagues Jeremy Barr and Elahe Izadi report.
Pro-Trump advocates’ claims of election fraud relating to Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic have been debunked. Dominion is seeking more than $1.3 billion in each of its lawsuits against Giuliani and Powell, while Smartmatic wants $2.7 billion.
Hill happenings
Cruz holds up Biden’s pick to lead Commerce Department.
The move is expected to delay Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo’s confirmation for a day. Cruz said he would lift the hold when the Biden administration commits to leaving Chinese tech company Huawei on a key government blacklist. In response to Republican senators, she said she sees “no reason” why Huawei Technologies Co. and other Chinese companies shouldn’t remain on the restricted trade list, Bloomberg reports.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s top Republican, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), praised the hold:
Lawmakers say they’re reintroducing a bill to combat online child exploitation.
The bill would notably allow tech companies to hold onto evidence of the crimes for longer periods of time and boost U.S. government resources to fight against the cyber crime.
“The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has received over 65 million reports of child sexual abuse material since its creation. While each of these reports represents a heinous crime, many are never investigated by law enforcement due to a lack of resources,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said in a statement. “The Invest in Child Safety Act makes combating child sexual abuse material a law enforcement priority and provides vital funding to bring those who exploit children to justice.”
Workforce report
Trending
Daybook
- Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) delivers a keynote address on the first day of the three-day virtual INCOMPAS communications and technology policy summit on Feb. 8 at noon.
- Acting Federal Trade Commission chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughter delivers the keynote address at the virtual Privacy Papers for Policymakers Award event on Feb. 10 at 1 p.m.
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Hope you have a safe and fun Super Bowl weekend:
