Audi Super Bowl commercial has powerful message for young girls

Among ads full of humor and gimmicks, Audi's 2017 Super Bowl commercial took on a serious and heartfelt tone. Narrated by a fictional father, "Daughter" portrays a young girl who competes in a cart race — and wins.

The significance

The narrator's sincerity largely drives the ad's emotional impact. He asks a series of questions:

"What do I tell my daughter? Do I tell her that her grandpa's worth more than her grandma? That her dad is worth more than her mom? Do I tell her that despite her education, her drive, her skills, her intelligence, she will automatically be valued as less than every man she ever meets?"

After the girl crosses the finish line, the commercial cuts to the father and daughter walking to their Audi S5 Sportback Prestige. Then the narrator says, "Or maybe I'll be able to tell her something different."

The dramatic commercial ends with a statement that Audi believes in equal pay for equal work.

"You can either introduce humor, with charmingly provocative wit, or you can speak to America emotionally," Loren Angelo, vice president of marketing for Audi of America, told Forbes writer Dale Buss. "This is a culturally engaging topic that we as a company are very focused on, and we think that to have a profound presence in the Super Bowl, and for the investment we're making, we want to elate to what America's talking about. And this is certainly something that is true to Audi and something that's happening in our society."

Whether or not this ad was a jab at Donald Trump's previous statements about women, we do know it's an explicit message about gender equality — one that hopefully inspires young girls to feel confident to be the people they want to be. And may society, including companies like Audi, support them.