This year’s Super Bowl sparked a debate in the advertising community. Two commercials with similar creative concepts were run back-to-back. This led to confusion among consumers, left advertisers wondering if they deserved make-goods, and the industry asking if this could have been prevented.

Careerbuilder’s ‘Casual Friday’ ran first, followed by Docker’s ‘Men Without Pants’ spot; both used similar visuals. CBS who aired this year’s Super Bowl felt the heat from both advertisers. They were looking for make-good spots because of the mishap. Eventually CBS gave Dockers make-goods which consisted of three 30-second spots in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships.

I believe Dockers was justified in going after CBS for make-good weight. Their spot, which aired after the CareerBuilder spot, was easily mistaken for a continuation of the ‘Casual Friday’ spot. Networks typically separate spots by product category to keep direct competitors from airing one after the other. However, given the scale of the event and the fact that some consumers only watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, a heightened level of care should have been taken.

How this situation can be prevented in the future is still up for debate. Spotting a competitive conflict (i.e. two automotive spots) is easy. However, deciding that two creative approaches are too similar requires a human judgment call; one that goes beyond a traffic system competitive code. Every network receives an approval copy of the spot well before it airs. They could look at the visual style and if it’s believed to be too closely related to another spot, defer to the advertiser. Any network willing to take this extra step would stand out as being advertiser-friendly and would create a win-win for both parties.

Tags: Careerbuilder, Casual Friday, Dockers, Men Without Pants, Super Bowl, Super Bowl Ads