How the Coronavirus Crisis Is Tying the U.S. Ad Market in Knots

variety.com:

TV commercials have long been the surest bet on Madison Avenue. Suddenly, they’re looking more like a risky gambit. One ad recently making the rounds in these uncertain days of coronavirus was a spot from Mint Mobile, a wireless carrier that aims for young customers and is partially owned by actor Ryan Reynolds.

The commercial, viewed on CNN last week, showed people at a party eating from a bowl of dip with their bare hands, and then feeding it to each other the same way.

At a time when officials are calling for social distancing, that hardly seems like the kind of behavior to show on television. “We understand the sensitivities and already asked all networks to pull [the spot] from their logs,” the company said in a statement.