Watch the five most politically controversial Super Bowl ads of all time

2011: Pepsi Max. On the House floor after the Super Bowl, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas) admonished the iconic soft drink maker for what she called a “demeaning” ad. In it, a black couple is enjoying a day in the park, when a white female jogger sits next to the man and smiles at him. The black female throws her Pepsi Max at her boyfriend, he ducks and it hits the jogger.

At the time, Jackson-Lee said the ad “was insulting to women of all colors.” She also criticized Pepsi for running such an ad during African-American history month.

John Carroll, a media analyst and professor of mass communication at Boston University, said there are “two major elements” that make up a Super Bowl ad:  Hitting on women and getting hit by objects.

“This ad, brilliantly in its own way, combines both of these elements,” he said. Advertisers, however, get lost when they “get caught up in their own cleverness.”

And there’s a major rule to abide by in creating a Super Bowl ad, he added: “If people can't understand what your ad is trying to communicate without sound, then it's a bad ad.”

Watch these Super Bowl ads: 
Pepsi Max |Focus on the Family
Sales Genie | Snickers | MoveOn