In what’s sure to be the most talked-about commercial of the Super Bowl (and not only because many ads were released in the days before the game), a floating QR code appeared on the screen near the end of the first quarter. Curiosity got the best of me and I, like thousands (millions?) of others, took out my phone to see what it was for. I should have known better: the QR code led to a website for Coinbase, which offered “$15 in free Bitcoin for signing up.” I don’t know what Coinbase, and honestly, I don’t care. But I do care that the ad pissed a lot of people when they realized what it was for.
No fucking way am i going to scan some super bowl commercial QR code
— jordan (@JordanUhl) February 14, 2022
“I scanned that QR code and lost $4.5 billion?????,” Parks and Recreation and The Good Place creator Michael Schur tweeted. “That QR code commercial just sent me into a reactionary tailspin,” sports personality Katie Nolan joked, while investor Joe Pompliano added, “Coinbase just spent $14 million for a color-changing QR code to bounce around on the screen for 30-seconds during the Super Bowl…”
That wasn’t a joke: the website did crash from the influx of traffic. Oops.
#Coinbase how can you drop this ad and then for the app to crash #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/FAbvRnudsK
— Vanessa
(@rurisan) February 14, 2022
#Coinbase’s crash during their Super Bowl commercial is a painfully honest display of what you can expect from them if you sign up.
— Abigail Burns (@Abigail970Burns) February 14, 2022
Absolutely genius #SuperBowl commercial by @coinbase! Just a QR code and music. If only the app didn’t crash
pic.twitter.com/jwaghjWn9a
— Austin Beveridge (@A_L_Beveridge) February 14, 2022
Coinbase paid 150 #Bitcoin to crash its site#priceofSuperBowl ad
— Natalie ₿runell (@natbrunell) February 14, 2022
Lmao that QR code crashed coinbase
— bag fumbler (@lib_crusher) February 14, 2022
All publicity is good publicity, unless you’re a crypto website that crashes during the Super Bowl.
zero chance I’m going to scan this QR code
— Ant (@eatatmilliways) February 14, 2022
help I clicked the Super Bowl commercial QR code and now all my apes are gone
— Sam Haft (@SamHaft) February 14, 2022
a floating QR code commercial is a test of how vulnerable Americans are to being hacked in the dumbest ways
— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) February 14, 2022
After scanning that coinbase QR code pic.twitter.com/KcDmdVnll0
— Jasmine (@JasmineLWatkins) February 14, 2022
Here’s the ad:
Brilliant or wasteful? Coinbase spent somewhere around $7M for a #SuperBowl ad with just a QR code. pic.twitter.com/eAb9TViGVu
— The Recount (@therecount) February 14, 2022