Most Expensive Super Bowl Ad Flops, Including Jeff Bezos’ $20M Loss
Written by
Kellan Jansen
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Levi Leidy
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It now costs $7 million to air a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl. That doesn’t include the fees of celebrity endorsers, production teams or any other costs of creating an ad worthy of the big game.
So, what happens when companies spend all that money just to broadcast an ad that hurts their image? They end up on a list like this. Here are five of the most expensive ad flops in Super Bowl history.
The $20 Million Ad That Never Aired
In 2019, Jeff Bezos spent $20 million to share an ad for Blue Origin, his space exploration company. But a week before the big game arrived, he canceled it. The reason, according to reports, is that his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, was involved in creating it.
This happened around the same time Bezos announced he and his first wife, Mackenzie, were getting a divorce. Reporters theorize Bezos wanted to avoid embarrassing her with the ad. But canceling an expensive commercial so close to the Super Bowl caused waves that eventually got the story out there anyway.
Bezos probably would’ve been better off allowing the ad to air. Canceling it only drew more attention to the awkward questions he hoped to avoid.
Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner Mishap
Next up is Pepsi’s infamous Kendall Jenner ad. Launched in 2017, it featured Jenner giving a Pepsi to officers at a heated protest. After sipping the drink, the officers and protestors begin laughing and cheering together.
The ad was meant to make a splash during the Super Bowl that year. But people saw it as tone-deaf and even a little offensive. It was like Pepsi was downplaying the issues people were protesting about around that time.
Estimates suggest the commercial cost around $5 million to create. They also say Pepsi could have planned a $100 million ad budget for a campaign like this. However, the company quickly pulled the commercial after facing backlash from the public.
Dodge Ram and Martin Luther King Jr.
Dodge is the company behind our next Super Bowl ad fail. It created a commercial for Ram trucks that featured Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Viewers saw trucks traversing various terrains while King’s words played in the background.
People thought it was a strange message. Many didn’t like the company using this speech, which is so important to so many, to sell a product. There were complaints on social media almost immediately.
Dodge spent at least $5 million on 30 seconds of Super Bowl air time. It also lost whatever money it put into creating the ad and probably damaged the value of its Ram brand to some extent
Temu’s Big Game Ad That Never Ended
Next up is a campaign that wasn’t offensive but still probably hurt the brand more than it helped. Temu spent tens of millions of dollars to share the same basic advertisement four times during the 2024 Super Bowl.
People got frustrated after seeing the ad that many times and took to social media with their complaints. The takeaway from the campaign ended up being that it was annoying — not that Temu is a good place to shop online.
That means Temu spent tens of millions of dollars just to frustrate its target audience. It wasn’t the best use of its marketing budget, to say the least. Now, marketers look at this as a lesson in moderation. It shows how sharing an ad too frequently can hurt a company.
Groupon’s 2011 Tibet Ad
Finally, Groupon spent at least $3 million on its controversial 2011 Super Bowl ad campaign. The commercial begins with actor Timothy Hutton talking about the struggles of the Tibetan people. Then, he abruptly transitions into an ad for Groupon, which helps him spend less on the Tibetan food he’s eating on screen.
It’s a confusing concept that left viewers offended instead of laughing. Groupon says it was a parody of celebrity-narrated PSA-style commercials. But the joke didn’t land, and viewers vented their frustration on social media.
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