State Farm spokesman Patrick Mahomes may be back in the Super Bowl this year. But State Farm will not.
The Bloomington-based insurer said it will not be advertising during the Super Bowl on Feb. 9 as originally planned, due to the wildfires in California.
“Our focus is firmly on providing support to the people of Los Angeles,” State Farm said.
Super Bowl is the primest of prime times for TV commercials, with advertisers paying top dollar for a few brief seconds of a broadcast that drew over 123 million average viewers a year ago – including those who watch only for the creative commercials.
State Farm has been a fixture in and around the Super Bowl in recent years. On Super Bowl Sunday in 2020, the company resurrected its “Jake from State Farm” character, now played by an actor. Last year’s ad featured Arnold Schwarzenegger as “Agent State Farm” who struggled to pronounce the word “neighbor.”
State Farm’s pivot comes as at least 27 people have died and thousands of homes and businesses have been destroyed in wildfires across southern California. Strong Santa Ana winds are hitting the fire-ravaged region again this week — posing renewed risks for the fires to spread and for new ones to spark.
State Farm says it’s received more than 9,000 home and auto claims as of Tuesday related to the wildfires and has already “put more than $150 million back into customers’ hands.” State Farm says it’s “made successful voice-to-voice contact with over 95% of customers who have filed homeowners claims.”
State Farm is California’s largest insurer, with over 8 million customers.
