Cetaphil’s minute-long Super Bowl commercial shows a dad trying to bond with his daughter over football.
The skin care company says it sought inspiration from teenage girls’ recent increased interest in football after entertainer Taylor Swift started dating the Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce.
Though the commercial doesn’t mention Swift’s name explicitly, the pair watches a game in jerseys with Swift’s favorite numbers (13 and 89), they wear matching bracelets and audio from the TV says, “Well folks, there she is. The most famous fan in the game.”
On YouTube, the ad similarly alludes to Swift in its caption, saying, “Dads and daughters everywhere have gotten closer because of a certain globe-trotting eras singer screaming from the football sidelines, and we’re here for it.”
“So this season, we’re inviting dads and daughters to get closer to each other’s worlds — daughters sharing their love for skin care and dads sharing their love for the game,” it adds.
On TikTok, Sharon Mbabazi claims Cetaphil “copied the TikTok I made with my stepdad back in September.”
She explained, “It’s the fact that they have a mixed-race girl in the video and a white dad. I’m a Black girl, my stepdad is white. And in the video, she’s doing her makeup, her skin care on her vanity, and her white dad walks in. I was doing my makeup on my vanity, and my white dad walks in and tells me about football.”
Gaining attention online from platforms, including the “Today” show and USA Today, Cetaphil released a statement to AdWeek in an email saying the commercial “was a response to that trend, and we are therefore not surprised the campaign connects with so many.”
The company added, “After speaking with Sharon, we see how she contributed to this trend personally.”
Mbabazi confirmed that Cetaphil had reached out to her in another TikTok posted Sunday, adding, “They’ve acknowledged all the videos and all the content, and they’ve made things right with us.”
Her dad appeared in the video and said, “It’s important to note that Cetaphil spent a lot of time working with us and ultimately they will represent Sharon and her brand well.”
Mbabazi ended the video by teasing a future collaboration with the company, saying, “Thank you guys so much for all of the support, and stay tuned for something coming later.”