Meta’s Super Bowl 2022 ad focused on the Quest 2, but it didn’t resonate with viewers the way the company had hoped, leaving many feeling despondent.
Meta’s big Super Bowl 2022 commercial revolved around the Quest 2 virtual reality headset, but it didn’t quite resonate with viewers the way the company had likely hoped. Rather than presenting VR and the company’s metaverse as an interesting companion to one’s daily life, the commercial left many viewers feeling despondent over its seemingly dystopian outlook on the future. The Quest 2 Super Bowl LVI commercial, which is called “Old Friends,” starts off with an energic, if not nostalgic, look at an arcade and pizza joint packed with happy customers. Animatronic characters play instruments while crooning, “Don’t you forget about me,” and the entire scene is quite lively…up until the moment the music cuts out, the lights go off, and the now-depressed animatronic dog is dragged off to the local pawn shop. The commercial gets worse from there, showing the once active arcade entirely shutdown — not just closed, but permanently out of business. The store is emptied, the assets removed, and the animatronic dog is next seen staring with a depressed expression out a pawn shop’s window.
