Tubi vs. Superbowl Fans

Peter Smith

Contributing Writer

Imagine sitting down in a comfy spot on the couch. A new episode of your favorite show is coming on. How would you feel if someone sat on the remote and changed the channel? Confused, annoyed, mad? All understandable reactions, but some football fanatics may have taken things too far.

One of the most exciting parts of the Super Bowl is the commercials. Even people who hate sports still look forward to this yearly event to see how advertisers try to draw attention. Some of these TV spots can be funny, embarrassing, or wholesome. One ad this year, however, got a starkly different reaction from viewers.

The free streaming service Tubi’s advert this year, titled “Interface Interruption,” starts with seemingly normal commentary of the game before showing a smart TV interface. The Tubi application is launched, with the 2005 film Mr. & Mrs. Smith being selected before showing the Tubi logo and then resuming regular programming. The commercial only lasted 15 seconds, but that was enough to throw people into a panic.

Everyone at my family’s Super Bowl party was confused and yelling at the TV. Other students had similar experiences, such as freshmen Janiah Dejesu and Hannah Defiore. Janiah said her family had a “good ha-ha moment” when the ad appeared, asking if they had ghosts. Hannah said her brother kept yelling at their dad, and everyone else froze. Luckily, this was all a misunderstanding, and things cooled down once the Tubi ad was over. Other people were not so lucky.

Many reports flooded in from across America of women being yelled at by boyfriends, children being fearful of the aggression from their fathers, and bartenders having drinks thrown at them by irate patrons. The biggest story to come out is a nowdeleted Reddit thread titled, “I broke up with my boyfriend over the Tubi Super Bowl Commercial.”

The post shares how the user’s boyfriend went ballistic. Victim and user Usual-Umpire-4468 writes, “My boyfriend... began screaming at me violently, calling me things that I don’t even want to write down.”

It got to the point that the boyfriend punched a hole in their living room wall! The man eventually realized what happened and apologized, but by that point, the damage was already done. UsualUmpire-4468 writes, “I feel like if you can’t keep you [sic] anger in check and get that violent over something so small I don’t want to be around for it.” This post earned over 13,000 upvotes and many responses in support of the poster’s decision.

Many people on Twitter have admitted to flipping out at family during the commercial. Some were apologetic, such as one man needing to repair his relationship with his motherin-law after cussing her out. Other users were not so kind, such as one mother admitting to yelling at her kids, followed by three laughing emojis. Can something like that really be considered a joke?

According to coverage on The Mary Sue, Tubi has not yet made a statement about this ad campaign and its repercussions. But is it Tubi’s fault? The company merely wanted to pull a prank and wildly succeeded. I believe we should instead hold the overreactors and abusers accountable for their actions. Freshman Janiah Dejesu agrees, saying, “You can’t blame a commercial for your temperament.”

Domestic violence is on the rise, and special events like these only spike the numbers. We need to start becoming more aware of this issue and giving help to those that desperately need it. If someone is going to hurt you physically or mentally over a 15-second commercial, it is probably best to leave for your own protection.