State Farm is canceling a planned commercial by the insurance giant set to run during the 2025 Super Bowl next month, citing the impact of the Los Angeles area wildfires.
“Our focus is firmly on providing support to the people of Los Angeles. We will not be advertising during the game as originally planned,” State Farm said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.
The company, which serves more than 8 million customers in Southern California, said it is directing its efforts to “helping customers impacted by the Southern California wildfires in the midst of this tragedy.”
“We are bringing the full scale and force of our catastrophe response teams to help customers recover — whether they are on the ground in LA or across the country,” State Farm added.
Super Bowl ad slots are coveted by brands, and last year cost $7 million for 30 seconds of air time, up 55% from 2019.
State Farm said it has received more than 7,850 home and auto claims linked to the California fires and to date has paid out a total of roughly $50 million to customers. “These numbers will continue to rise as residents return and assess damage,” the company said.
State Farm has in recent years stopped offering new home insurance policies in California amid surging costs from extreme weather linked to climate change. The insurer dropped 1,600 policies in Pacific Palisades, a Los Angeles decimated by this month’s fires, in July, according to the California Department of Insurance.
An analysis of insurance data by CBS News San Francisco last year found that State Farm also dropped more than 2,000 policies in two other Los Angeles ZIP codes, which include the Brentwood, Calabasas, Hidden Hills and Monte Nido neighborhoods.
Other insurance companies have also dropped coverage in California because of rising payouts and reconstruction costs, leaving many residents scrambling to find an alternative homeowners policy or relying on a lender of last resort, the state’s Fair Access to Insurance Requirements plan.
The Los Angeles-area wildfires are expected to be the costliest in U.S. history. Some early estimates peg the total damage, including economic and insured losses, at more than $250 billion.
