Sunday, February 7, 2010

Did Kia End-Run #NFL With #Vegas Ad?

The NFL's Super Bowl advertising policy, revised last month, is crystal clear regarding Vegas and Vegasy imagery:

In all instances the ads should be for tourism destinations only. So TV/radio/internet/print ads for Las Vegas tourism or Vegas.com will be allowed. Ads for specific hotels or resorts are NOT permitted if they house any type of gambling.

Ads may NOT contain any gambling references - audio or video - or any gambling imagery. So by way of example, an ad for Las Vegas tourism with pictures of slot machines, dice, cards, or a wide shot of Vegas strip and casinos would NOT be ok. However an ad for Las Vegas tourism with pictures of golf, swimming pools, and performers WOULD be ok.

The content of the ads (audio and/or visual) must be “family friendly”. Any suggestive ads or those showing or suggesting inappropriate activity (e.g., alcoholic excess, sexual adventures), or those that imply general misbehavior (e.g., “What happened in Vegas Stays in Vegas”) will not be approved.

So, then, how did THIS happen?




Granted, this was a car ad, not a tourism ad. But it made Monte Carlo look pretty darn cool, which is a bit of a triumph, and MGM Mirage had to have signed off on that. So did a Vegas casino SNEAK an ad on to the Super Bowl broadcast via Kia? Is this some brilliant end run?

Fascinating. I will get to the bottom of this.

3 comments:

mike_ch said...

Looks filmed last October judging by the Frightdome billboard by the sign.

Never understood local media's obsession with NFL advertising standards.

El said...

The NFL is a joke with that whole "family friendly" BS. Then again, you'll never go broke pandering to the God & guns crowd in Flyover Country.

When I worked in advertising for a casino in the Kansas City market, sponsoring anything sports-related was a non-starter. We couldn't touch the Royals or Chiefs... Only NASCAR... And we spent a shitload on courting the Kansas Speedway crowd on race weekends.

Now that I'm in Phoenix, I see tons of cross-marketing between the three Indian casinos here and both the AZ Diamondbacks and the Phoenix Suns. Certainly both MLB and the NBA have had more gambling-related scandals than any I can remember in football.

Steve, in your future piece, it may be interesting to contrast the other pro leagues' policies regarding casino ads and sponsorships.

Keep up the great work!

The Censory said...

My kids started screaming MUNOOOOO! MUNOOOOO! That was funny.