Uber Eats Compelled To Remove Peanut-Allergy Portion From Their Super Bowl Commercial

(NewsReady.com) – In 2018, a “Peter Rabbit” Super Bowl commercial aired that caused the Asthma and Allergy Association of America to issue a statement condemning the movie’s filmmakers. The organization claimed the commercial made fun of food allergies because a rabbit used blackberries as a weapon against someone allergic to them. The filmmakers issued an apology for the ad. Now, there’s another backlash against another Super Bowl ad.

On February 11, tens of millions of people gathered around their televisions to watch the Kansas City Chiefs face off against the San Francisco 49ers. For the second year in a row, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his team walked away with the Lombardi Trophy. During the game, an Uber Eats commercial played with a scene cut out of it.

On February 6, the original version of the 60-second Uber Eats commercial debuted. It showed people forgetting things. For example, actress Jennifer Aniston is shown forgetting who her “Friends” co-star David Schwimmer was. Rocker Jelly Roll stands in front of a mirror in the commercial and tries to wash his face tattoos off, saying someone doodled on his face. David and Victoria Beckham couldn’t remember the name of the “Spice Girls.”

Then, there was a guy who was eating a spoonful of peanut butter out of the jar. His eye was swollen shut, and he had hives. He remarked, “There’s peanuts in peanut butter?”

The ad prompted a statement from Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE), which tagged the company on X, formerly Twitter, and said it was “disappointed” that the company used a “life-threatening food allerg[y] as humor in its Super Bowl ad.” They said peanut allergies aren’t a joke.

We're incredibly disappointed by @UberEats' use of life-threatening food allergies as humor in its Super Bowl ad. The suffering of 33M+ Americans with this condition is no joke. Life-threatening food allergy is a disease, not a diet. Enough is enough. https://t.co/aKilgfweVd

— FARE | Food Allergy Research & Education (@FoodAllergy) February 7, 2024

The CEO of FARE, Dr. Sung Poblete, stated on Friday before the Super Bowl that Uber removed the scene from the ad to ensure it was not seen by the millions of people who tune into the game. Sure enough, when the ad aired during the game, it didn’t include the peanut allergy scene.