The company decided just last week to run a Super Bowl ad, recycling creative work from last year,
and adding the hashtag “we accept,” in what was seen as a response to Mr. Trump’s executive order to temporarily close America’s borders to all refugees and to citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries.
“We knew this but were confident that the universal message of pay equality would resonate.”
Coca-Cola’s “America the Beautiful” ad, which ran just before the game, had a new resonance with viewers on Sunday night given the recent national conversation around immigration
and inclusion, even though Coca-Cola said it had run the ad many times since its original broadcast, including during the opening ceremony of the Olympics and the football playoffs.
“The question we’re asking ourselves is, how can we do it again next year?”
This year, Super Bowl advertisements with just a hint of political or social themes — simply showing the faces
of people of different ethnicities, for instance — prompted a maelstrom of commentary on social media.
Once Fox asked for a revision, said Maggie Magerko, the company’s president
and owner, “I thought I would take advantage of this, take advantage of this political environment, take advantage of Fox censoring it.”
84 Lumber — which wanted to make its name known to people 40
and under who might not be familiar with the brand, Ms. Magerko said — was rewarded with a television audience of more than 111 million.
84 Lumber, a building materials supplier based in Pennsylvania, drew attention before the game for saying it was forced to alter its plans for its first Super Bowl commercial after Fox said its depiction of a Spanish-speaking mother
and daughter confronting a border wall between the United States and Mexico was “too controversial.” While the rejection was a surprise, the company used it to its benefit.