Travel industry giant Airbnb used its spot during the Super Bowl on 5 February to stream an advert promoting multiculturalism and acceptance.
The company displayed an ad with a poignant message for both the US and its new President. The short advert appeared on the stadium’s giant screens during the interval of the American Football finale. It showed faces of men and women from a number of different ethnicities, and it said:
No matter who you are, where you’re from, who you love, or who you worship, we all belong.
Acceptance starts with all of us. #weaccept pic.twitter.com/btgqyYHVTK
— Airbnb (@Airbnb) February 6, 2017
Airbnb is a home-sharing company, and has come under some scrutiny itself for its own practices. But its Super Bowl ad seemed to be very popular on social media.
Twitter response
Around 25,000 people had retweeted the ad by 6 February, and it quickly began to trend on Twitter. Those commenting on it used the hashtag #WeAccept.
Many people were very appreciative of Airbnb’s efforts:
I love how so many brands paid millions of dollars to spread love & acceptance tonight. #weaccept #Budweiser #84lumber
— Landon Perry (@landonjperry00) February 6, 2017
Others, however, were not impressed:
All of these commercials pushing multiculturalism is propaganda to accept Muslim refugees that seek to invade.#WeAccept ❌Nope!#SuperBowl
— Irma (@irmahinojosa_) February 6, 2017
Target audience
The Super Bowl is the biggest event in the American sporting calendar, and advertising is consequently at an absolute premium. Last year, 114 million people tuned in to watch the Super Bowl. And this year, Donald Trump was one of them:
Enjoy the #SuperBowl and then we continue: MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 5, 2017
The Airbnb advert is especially relevant for coming in the middle of President Trump’s attempted ‘Muslim ban’. A controversial measure which has impacted on refugees and nationals from seven different Muslim-majority countries. And a move which is likely to do little to prevent terrorism.
As such, the ad’s message will serve as a timely reminder to the watching President that his intolerant and counterproductive ideas are not shared by everyone.
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Featured image via Twitter
