Hard Rock Edits Super Bowl Spot After Kobe's Death

With Michael Bay at the helm, there was little doubt that Hard Rock's Super Bowl ad would feature some action. But that penchant for the big explosion led Hard Rock to edit its spot following the death of Kobe Bryant. The brand and VaynerMedia, the creative agency behind the ad, declined to describe the problematic scenes, but said parts of the ad could have been considered "insensitive." The brand released a teaser on Wednesday, which promises a "provocative" and "epic" tour of the Hard Rock property after a thief nabs what appears to be Jennifer Lopez's diamond-encrusted coffee cup. J-Lo, her fiancé Alex Rodriguez, and Miami’s own Pitbull and DJ Khaled star in the ad.

Watch it: See the teaser here. Plus, travel reporter Ryan Barwick spoke with the brand about the changes.

As of now, brands have released 33 Super Bowl spots, but only a handful more will debut before the Big Game. In total, we're projecting a little more than 50 ads, which means about a dozen or so will premiere during the Super Bowl. To make watching all the ads easier (if you don't care about being surprised on Super Bowl Sunday), we created a user-friendly gallery—on desktop and mobile—for your viewing pleasure. See all the ads here.

Here's a rundown of all the ads released on Wednesday:

One year after Mint Mobile gave us the Chunky Milk ad—which the entire Adweek newsroom hated last year except for me—Mint Mobile is back, but with a stunt. Ryan Reynolds recently bought the mobile phone service provider, but didn't want to pony up $5.6 million for 30 seconds of air time. Instead, the brand bought an ad in The New York Times to announce its giving away over 300,000 months of free phone service. How much would over 300,000 months of Mint Mobile phone service cost consumers? You guessed it. About $5 million.

Read more: See the print ad and learn how the brand is giving the months away.

Best of the Rest: Today's Top News and Insights

Network deploying in-game promos to keep viewers tuned in beyond the game.

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resh off her GRAMMY week hosting musical artists in the Citi Sound Vault at the Hollywood Palladium, Jennifer Breithaupt, global consumer CMO, Citi, and I got a chance to talk about her role and the exciting things she’s working on across the industry. If you are a Citi customer, there’s no doubt you’ve heard of all the exclusive concerts and experiences that Citi provides, but what you may not know is how focused Jennifer is on helping to advance equality through music.

The first person to email an image of a completed puzzle to crossword@adweek.com will receive two tickets to Elevate:AI, an Adweek event on March 19 in New York focusing on the rapidly evolving and increasingly adopted technology: artificial intelligence, and its ever-growing influence in marketing and the daily lives of consumers.

Brands hosted venue takeovers and activations for attendees at 36th film festival.

David Madrid created the spot with its Miami office.

'It was the right time to take this step,' says CEO Anna Bateson.