‘Do not eat soap’: Federal agency tweets warning after Super Bowl ad
(NEXSTAR) – A Super Bowl ad for Uber Eats put the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in a position to state the obvious Sunday.
“Do not eat soap,” the agency tweeted.
The tweet came after an ad for Uber Eats that aired during Sunday’s broadcast. The ad used comedy – and lots of celebrity cameos – to highlight the fact users can order non-food items on the app. Gwyneth Paltrow takes a bite out of a candle, Jennifer Coolidge stuffs her mouth with paper towels, and Nicholas Braun (of the HBO show “Succession”) chugs a bottle of dish soap.
“Thanks to Uber Eats, we don’t even know what food is anymore!” shouts Trevor Noah, as he ponders eating a lightbulb.
The Uber Eats ad was one of many that leaned on celebrities and humor to catch people’s attention. T-Mobile reunited “Scrubs” stars Zach Braff and Donald Faison. General Motors’ ad featured characters from the “Austin Powers” movies. And Verizon recreated the 1996 movie “The Cable Guy” with Jim Carrey to tout its 5G Internet offering.
Companies shelled out up to $7 million for each 30 seconds of air time.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is best known for issuing recalls of unsafe products, but the agency has been using Twitter memes to get the word out about space heater safety, TVs that can fall over, and other safety concerns.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.