GM is showing off its new electric Hummer in a Super Bowl ad starring LeBron James.
The spot, titled “Quiet Revolution”, was initially slated to be released this week, but the company opted to hold off out of respect to the late Kobe Bryant, according to Ad Age.
A GM spokeswoman told the outlet, “Out of respect for this week’s news and all those involved, we are holding the full ad until game day.” The commercial will air during the second quarter of the game.
The Ad Features the GMC Hummer EV
CNET reports that GM isn’t “bringing back Hummer as a full-on brand, it’s reviving Hummer as a model nameplate…” The car will be an all-electric pickup truck that will be sold through GM’s existing GMC dealers.
It is slated to be released on May 20, but GM hopes to garner buzz with its Super Bowl spot.
As Forbes points out, Bloomberg News was the first to report that GM would be bringing back the Hummer as a fully electric vehicle last summer.
However, they write, “The jury is out on whether truck buyers are interested in moving from gas pumps to recharging stations. Towing capacity and rugged off-road prowess are essential to their decisions. Another unanswered question is whether battery costs, which are falling, will decline enough to bring the manufacturing cost of electric trucks in line with their gas-fueled ancestors.”
A Number of Edits Have Been Made to Super Bowl Commercials in the Wake of Kobe Bryant’s Death
GM held off releasing their full ad out of respect for Bryant. Other ads have been edited in the past week in the wake of the helicopter crash that killed the late basketball legend.
Hard Rock, for one, removed a scene from its Super Bowl ad that featured Kareem Abdul Jabar. The commercial was directed by Michael Bay and stars Jennifer Lopez. In a statement, the company said, “Hard Rock is incredibly saddened by the news from this past weekend and sends deepest condolences to all those affected by this immense tragedy… Given the news, we immediately made the decision to remove scenes including Kareem Abdul Jabbar that could be considered insensitive.”
Similarly, Genesis is removing a helicopter from its ad that stars Chrissy Teigen and John Legend and shows off images of “old luxury”. As reported by Ad Age, a spokeswoman said, “We are currently re-cutting the ad, to remove a stationary helicopter that was in the opening two seconds of the commercial… The ad had been filmed, produced and delivered well before Sunday’s tragedy, so we took down the spot out of compassion and sensitivity to the families.”
Planters is one commercial that viewers have been watching closely. In their ad, their spokescharacter, Mr. Peanut, is killed off after a car accident. According to Ad Age, the company intends on airing a commercial that features Mr. Peanut’s funeral during the game’s third quarter, even though they paused all paid media immediately following Bryant’s death.
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