Coinbase’s Super Bowl TV spot has divided opinions online, but the cryptocurrency exchange says the conversations on the topic were the most vital.
Four years after its viral QR code advertisement, crypto exchange Coinbase has returned to the Super Bowl, this time betting on a Backstreet Boys karaoke-inspired ad.
Coinbase’s one-minute TV spot during the most-watched sporting event in the US mainly featured text animation flashing the lyrics to the Backstreet Boys’ 1997 hit “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).”
Coinbase marketing chief Catherine Ferdon said in a statement that the ad aimed to “bring people together for a shared experience that highlights how the crypto community has grown.”
This is Coinbase’s first Super Bowl ad since 2022, when it debuted with a 60-second ad featuring a color-changing QR code that bounced around the screen like a DVD screensaver.
The QR code ad took you to a link offering $15 in Bitcoin (BTC) to those who signed up for Coinbase, which was so popular that it crashed the website and apparently saw 20 million views in one minute.
The latest ad is divisive, but that means it worked, says Coinbase
Coinbase’s latest Super Bowl ad has sparked divided opinions online, with some X users saying the ad drew ridicule over the market crash and cryptocurrencies’ ties to the Trump administration. Others, however, praised it for its simplicity and memorable nature.
“If you mean it, it worked,” Coinbase sent to X in response to a user who said the company’s ad was “terrible.”
Other people online also joined in on the ad, including one user X appointment “The room I was in EXPLODED when we found out it was a Coinbase ad,” while Axios reporter Andrew Solender he said the room he was in “erupted into moans and cries of ‘fuck you'” after the ad aired.
Related: UK bans Coinbase ads that ‘trivialize’ cryptocurrency risks: report
Ethereum Foundation Engineer Chase Wright he said that “half the people at the party I went to sang along and laughed when it was Coinbase.” In contrast, another user X he said it was “humble genius” because those who watched it “will 100% remember Coinbase if they ever want to buy crypto.”
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong defended advertising on X, arguing that “most people watch ads halfway through (loud, in a noisy room, with a lot of people). It takes something special to break through.”
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