Did Salesforce's Super Bowl Ad Throw Shade At These Three Billionaires?

It's no secret that there a have been some surprising and misguided attempts to create a dialog with customers during the Super Bowl. Beyond ads such as Avocados from Mexico, which aired just one day after the U.S. blocked Mexican avocado imports, according to Ad Age, companies like Salesforce are hedging their bets against three of the most influential and famous billionaires in the world. In its Salesforce's "The New Frontier" Super Bowl ad, the company called for not one, but three of the richest men in the country to invest in real people and the real world rather than their virtual realities going forward without ever specifically calling out the billionaires, according to The New York Times. 

Salesforce seemingly targeted three tech leaders, including Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos. In the ad, lines are drawn separating real life and virtual reality as the company appears to challenge everyone to invest their hope in one another. Fans of the ad couldn't get enough of the low-key shade thrown at some of the richest and most famous CEOs of the moment.

After Salesforce's "The New Frontier" ad, starring actor Matthew McConaughey as an astronaut in a hot air balloon, aired during Super Bowl LVI, tons of people joined the conversation on Twitter. One fan of the ad simply tweeted, "wow," while another said, "Salesforce going anti-Meta is the Silicon Valley pettiness I need." Another tweeted, "This Salesforce has ALOT of shade being thrown in it." Someone else tweeted, "Note [Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff's] signature wink & dig at zuck, bezos & musk in the @salesforce #teamearth ad." But Salesforce was not without its critics on Twitter, too. 

One person pointed out the irony of the ad, commenting, "Salesforce can spend millions on a Super Bowl ad and I still have to pay extra to pin more than one list view." Another noted, "I'd like to take a moment to thank salesforce for all the amazing work they've done to improve earth. I would like to, but unfortunately they haven't done anything yet."

Regardless of viewers' feelings for or against the metaverse, Salesforce's ad was a reminder that the world still needs people to invest it altruistic causes for the sake of everyone's future. From the climate crisis, to feeding the hungry, the ad definitely suggests rerouting investments.