State Farm Super Bowl Ad Canceled Amid Wildfire-Related Criticism

The fires that have decimated the Los Angeles area in recent days have led State Farm to scrap its planned Super Bowl LIX ad.

Ad age reported Wednesday that the insurance company chose not to run an ad. Last year they aired a commercial featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and his former Twins co-star Danny DeVito.

The company cited its intention to focus on helping victims of the Los Angeles wildfires.

“State Farm, State Farm agents and our employees are all working to help customers impacted by the Southern California wildfires amid this tragedy. State Farm serves more than 8 million customers in California – more than any other insurer – and we’ve been doing it for nearly 100 years,” State Farm said in a statement to Front Office Sports. “Our claims force is the largest in the industry and we bring the full scale and strength of our disaster response teams to help our customers recover, whether they are on the ground in Los Angeles or across the country.

“We are proud to announce that our customer contact is 90%. We’ve received more than 7,400 home and auto claims, and we’re putting tens of millions of dollars into the hands of our customers. These numbers will continue to rise as residents return and assess the damage. Our focus is firmly on providing support to the people of Los Angeles. We will not be advertising during the match as originally planned.

Fox reportedly charged at least $7 million per 30-second spot during this year’s game. The network has been out of advertising inventory for at least two months. There is a waiting list for potential advertisers, so State Farm’s spot should be easily filled.

State Farm was heavily criticized following the fires. The company, California’s largest property insurer, announced in March 2024 that it would not renew 72,000 property insurance policies in the state. The company cited rising costs, outdated insurance regulations and growing risks of disasters, including fires.