--- title: "In Bizarre Super Bowl Ad, Facebook Imagines Its Users as Robot Dogs Stuffed into Trash Compactor" description: "Meta aired a rather bizarre Super Bowl ad for its Quest 2 virtual reality headset, in which it compared its customers to a thrown away animatronic." date: "2022-02-14" modified: "2022-02-14" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/metaverse-super-bowl-ad" categories: - "Robot Dogs" - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "facebook" - "metaverse" - "the digest" - "vr" --- # In Bizarre Super Bowl Ad, Facebook Imagines Its Users as Robot Dogs Stuffed into Trash Compactor ![Meta aired a rather bizarre Super Bowl ad for its Quest 2 virtual reality headset, in which it compared its customers to a thrown away animatronic.]() *\Image: Meta\* ## Robot Blues Facebook's parent company Meta aired a rather bizarre Super Bowl ad for its Quest 2 virtual reality headset, in which it compared its customers to a Chuck E- Cheese animatronic knockoff being put through a trash compactor — before being rescued by a kindhearted Quest 2 user. The ad is presumably meant to get people excited for the company's Metaverse, a [dumbed down cartoon playground]() that allows people — adults, sure, but [mainly kids]() — to hang out in a virtual reality world. How exactly an animatronic dog destined for the landfill fits into that vision is unclear. Was it perhaps meant to evoke the many ups and downs of having to live through Facebook's many [controversial changes in direction]()? More likely, the company's depressing ad is meant to trigger a simplistic emotional response — it would be far from the first Super Bowl ad to try to do just that — asking its audience to root for the furry robot, not identify themselves with it. Here, make up your own mind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcmAlpIp3oM ## Bad Marks But it's also representative of Meta's much larger issue of building a convincing enough case that people actually need the metaverse to spend time with family and loved ones. While Meta may liken its customers to a rejected canine fur ball with legs, people in the real world still have far more agency than that, despite lockdowns and mandates. After all, physical reality still exists — a simple fact that Meta seems to be conveniently forgetting in order to sell [bulky headsets]() and a [subpar]() in-house VR experience. So who is this misguided Super Bowl ad really for? Is it meant to be a distraction from uncomfortable straps and motion sickness? Has the company behind the biggest social media network in the world forgotten that fun can still be had in the real world? We, on the other hand, have yet to give up faith. **READ MORE:** [Meta’s Quest 2 Super Bowl ad takes a retired animatronic dog into the metaverse]() \[*The Verge*\] **More on Meta:** F*[amous Marketing Professor Calls Facebook’s Metaverse a “Flaming Bag of S\*\*t”]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()