State Farm has canceled a commercial that was scheduled to air during the Super Bowl in 2025 next month. The insurance company cited the impact of the wildfires in the Los Angeles area.
Our focus is on supporting the people of Los Angeles. State Farm told CBS MoneyWatch that they would not be advertising at the game, as was originally planned.
The company that serves over 8 million customers in Southern California said it would “help customers affected by the Southern California fires during this tragedy.”
State Farm said, “We will bring the full force and scale of our disaster response teams to assist customers in recovering — whether on the ground or anywhere across the nation.”
Brands are eager to secure Super Bowl advertising slots. Last year, 30 seconds of airtime cost $7 million, up by 55%.
State Farm has said that it has received over 7,850 claims for autos and homes related to the California wildfires. The company has so far paid out approximately $50 million in compensation to its customers. The company stated that “these numbers will continue rising as residents return to assess the damage.”
State Farm stopped offering new home insurance in California in recent years due to the rising costs of extreme weather caused by climate change. According to the California Department of Insurance, State Farm dropped 1,600 policies from Pacific Palisades in July. This is a Los Angeles neighborhood decimated by fires this month.
CBS News San Francisco conducted an analysis last year of insurance data. State Farm dropped over 2,000 policies from two other ZIP codes in Los Angeles, including Brentwood, Hidden Hills, and Monte Nido.
Californians are also being left scrambling to find a homeowners insurance policy due to rising payouts and costs of reconstruction. Many residents have been forced to rely on lenders of last resort or the Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan, which is a state-run program that provides fair access to insurance requirements.
Los Angeles wildfires will likely be the most expensive in U.S. History. Early estimates put the total damages including economic losses and insurance claims at more than 250 billion dollars.
