Perennial Super Bowl advertiser Master Lock wraps up a two-decade run (with two years off in 1986 and 1987) with this new ad by independent shop Cramer-Krasselt in Milwaukee, Wisc., for Super Bowl XXX.
It features chaotic images of crime and police, as if all the reassuringly locked-down environments of its ad from Super Bowl XXVII, XXVIII and XXIX ("Security") had somehow suddenly burst open, set to a cover of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth." But the ad also includes the iconic shot of a Master Lock padlock withstanding a direct hit by a bullet, the 21st year that the image appeared in a Super Bowl.
Master Lock, part of American Brands, finally ended its streak by staying out of Super Bowl XXXI, saying its recent crime-prevention theme wasn't a great fit for the celebratory mood of the big game.
Its padlock-that-can-take-a-bullet wasn't entirely done with Super Bowl audiences, however: It showed up at the end of Nike's 1997 big-game spot "Super Bowl Party," putting a humorous exclamation point on the quintessential Super Bowl-ness of that ad.
BRAND: Master Lock
YEAR: 1996
AGENCY: Cramer-Krasselt
SUPERBOWL: XXX
QUARTER AIRED: Q1