The Super Bowl is one thing that many look forward to every year. Despite the health crisis, the game continued to bring in hundreds of avid football fans to its stadiums. But more importantly, many host parties at home so they could watch the games together and enjoy the half-time performance. Because of the sheer volume of people who support the game, it’s no surprise that brands use these events to showcase some of their products and even pay a lot of money for their ads to be broadcasted. 

Unfortunately, there are some ads that don’t get approved. And today, we’re seeing a very disappointed T-Mobile CEO, Mike Sievert, over a banned Super Bowl LV commercial that wasn’t allowed to be aired on the big game on Sunday. 

According to reports, Sievert claims that one of its Super Bowl commercials was rejected. The ad, which stars Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, was said to be banned at the big game because of a protected rights deal with Verizon, which is the official telco sponsor of the NFL. 

The 60-second ad features the two football stars having a conversation about Brady’s next move over a video call. Gronkowski was encouraging Brady to retire and visit Florida. But due to a spotty cell service, all Brady managed to hear was that he should play with the Tampa Bay Buccanners and Gronkowski would be joining him. 

The ban is pretty interesting since T-Mobile never mentioned any of its rivals in the commercial. At the end of the spot, T-Mobile referred to itself as #TheGOATin5G, which refers to “Greatest Of All Time”. 

With no outright mention of its competitor, many believe that the ban was because Verizon was unhappy with the ad’s content. But there could also be another reason why the ad is being refused, as suggested by users on this Reddit thread. 

Instead of waiting for the big game to launch the ad, T-Mobile decided to do so on Twitter. But there are reports that T-Mobile still has a second spot prepared for airing on Sunday. We’ll just wait and see if this ad gets banned too.

You can watch the ad here:

Source: 1, 2