Ad nods to Taylor Swift and Football and provokes cheers and criticism

When an ad for Cetaphil lotion was released online just days before the Super Bowl, it received rave reviews for a story that evoked a familiar tale among parents, football fans and followers of Taylor Swift.

In the commercial, a father tries in vain to interest his teenage daughter, who is distracted by something on her phone, in a football match. She heads to her bedroom to complete her skincare routine – which involves using Cetaphil on her face. She then walks downstairs and sees her father watching a football match while wearing a white jersey with the number 89 on it. The announcer can be heard saying, “Well folks, there she is, the most famous fan of the match,” while she smiles. of the daughter.

The father, sensing an opportunity, later walks into her room with a red No. 13 jersey in front of her and jokingly applies cream to his face before begging her to come watch the match. She goes downstairs, puts her phone on the coffee table and curls up next to her father. The ad ends with them wearing their sweaters on the couch and laughing. An on-screen message reads: “This season, fathers and daughters found a new way to connect.”

While it doesn't directly mention Taylor Swift, the ad is a nod to how the music superstar's relationship with Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce may have led to more fathers and daughters watching NFL games together this season. The No. 13 and No. 89 sweaters were implicit references to Ms. Swift's “lucky number,” 13, and her birth year (and Mr. Kelce's), 1989. And the father in the ad wore friendship bracelets, as did many of them doing. Ms. Swift's fans.

Social media users responded positively to the ad and made connections to their own lives. One TikTok user who posted the ad said it “has me in tears.” On X, fan accounts for Mrs. Swift praised the commercial, and one user said“As the daughter of a soccer coach and a die-hard Swiftie, I love it.”

But on Friday evening, a woman with a popular TikTok account, Sharon Mbabazi, said the company stole the idea for the ad from her. On her social media accounts, she shared a TikTok post from September in which she is doing her makeup when her stepfather comes in and tells her about the rise in Instagram followers, sweater sales and popularity of Mr. Kelce since his relationship with Ms. Swift became public. .

The post, whose caption reads, “My stepdad has been keeping me updated on Taylor and Travis every day since Sunday,” was viewed 2.7 million times as of Sunday afternoon. (It's one of many posts she's made about hair, football and her stepfather.) He joins Ms. Mbabazi in applying lotion to his face, giving updates on Kansas City's performance or just letting her to know when the Chiefs were playing – and to get ready to watch the game together. Ms Mbabazi did not respond to a request for comment.

In a statement on Sunday, Cetaphil said the ad was “an original creation” that was “inspired by a unique trend this year in which countless young women and girls have bonded with their fathers through football and posted about it on their social channels. The company added that, after speaking with Ms Mbabazi, it was “working with Sharon and other influencers like her”, although it did not specify what that meant.

Other health and beauty companies, which often target women in their marketing, may hope to benefit interest in Mrs. Swift, advertised during Sunday night's Super Bowl, includes ELF cosmetics, NYX Makeup and Dove. (The Cetaphil ad would not air nationally during the game.)

Mary Scott, a professor of strategic communications at Montclair State University, said Super Bowl ads were most effective when they depicted a feeling or moment that the country as a whole had recently experienced. Even more than the Swift Effect, Ms. Scott said, the portrayal of phones as a barrier between parents and their children is something many parents can relate to.

She compared the Cetaphil commercial to the one from the 2021 Super Bowl, which alluded to Americans' shared experiences with the Covid-19 pandemic.

“They're in a different reality,” Ms. Scott said, referring to the Cetaphil ad. “They just went deeper.”