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Temu

Consumers have apparently made Temu rich enough to afford 3 Super Bowl commercials. Here’s how much they cost

'Who did they scam for this much airtime?'

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Natasha Dubash

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Posted on Feb 11, 2024   Updated on Feb 12, 2024, 12:13 pm CST

Temu aired three commercials throughout Super Bowl 2024, and internet users are calling consumers out for making the company rich enough to afford the ads. 

If you were watching the Super Bowl on Sunday, chances are you caught the new commercial from Temu, an e-commerce website that offers a wide variety of products for extremely low prices. 

Temu was one of the fastest-growing websites in 2023, per Business Insider, reaching an average of 92.2 million monthly visits. Customers can order items through the Temu app, which also allows users to earn credits by playing games or inviting friends to join.

But while Temu has seen an explosion in growth, its ratings among customers have been dismal, with many people pointing out the low quality of the products. The Better Business Bureau rates Temu a C+, and warns that the business is not accredited with the organization.

The Daily Dot has also covered several stories about customers’ information being leaked after they used Temu. One user claimed her PayPal was hacked after she used the app, and another said she suspects Temu sold her bank information on the black market because she, too, was hacked soon after making a purchase.

A Temu spokesperson tells the Daily Dot: “Temu is a TrustedSite Certified Secure Site that follows the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) when handling card data by encrypting data in storage and transmission. In addition, Temu never sells customer information and does not receive the card details for transactions that use payment avenues like PayPal, Google Pay and Apple Pay. In addition, Temu works with major payment networks with their own security and authentication protocols for added protection, including Visa Secure, MasterCard ID Check, American Express SafeKey, Discover ProtectBuy, and JCB J/Secure.”

But despite the complaints, Temu’s success was underscored on Sunday with the airing of multiple commercials during the Super Bowl. Several users on X, formerly Twitter, remarked on the number of advertisement spots. 

One person questioned how the company had managed to get a commercial spot during the Super Bowl, despite having complaints against it for credit card fraud.

Many people joked that Temu was using customers’ scammed credit cards to pay for the commercial spots, which can go for up to $7 million for a 30-second spot according to the Wall Street Journal. With a total of three 30-second commercials showing during the game, the company could have paid up to $21 million for the air time.

As for the reviews, Temu’s spokesperson says: “Temu is working with the BBB to address customer concerns. Temu’s review rating should be seen in the context of its peers. Temu’s Better Business Bureau customer review rating of 2.55/5 is higher than Walmart (1.08), eBay (1.08) and Shein (1.29), all companies with a much longer operating history. These companies have many more times the number of customer complaints compared with Temu.”

Finally, several customers realized that they had been pronouncing the name of the company wrong this whole time. As one befuddled user recounted, while many pronounce the name, “Tee-mu,” it turns out it’s actually “Teh-mu.”

This story has been updated.

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*First Published: Feb 11, 2024, 9:35 pm CST

Natasha Dubash

Natasha Dubash is a freelance writer and editor based in Los Angeles. She loves reporting on entertainment, television, and pop culture.

Natasha Dubash