Super Bowl Ads

Super Bowl Advertising
With Super Bowl XLII no sooner than a couple days away, we are all anticipating the possible defeat of (the great) Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. Will we witness history as the New England Patriots accomplish an undefeated season with a 19-0 record? Or, despite a point spread of twelve, will the New York Giants/underdogs emerge as Super Bowl champions? However this Sunday is not all about watching football with your favorite snacks in one hand and the remote in the other, because for individuals connected to multi-million dollar industries, it is all about the television commercials! The Super Bowl is the most-watched televised single sporting event in the world. An estimated ninety-four million viewers become potential consumers of products advertised during Super Bowl commercial breaks. Company executives will hope that the commercial itself becomes the catalyst for a viewer to purchase the advertised product long after the coveted Vince Lombardi trophy has been won.
It is astounding how much money companies will spend on advertising. The cost for a 30- second advertisement spot during the Super Bowl will be $ 2.3 million, or $75,000 a second. Wall Street released a poll before this year’s game to calculate the number of viewers who intend to stay-put for the new ads during the Super Bowl. The figure was three-fourths of viewers or at least 40 million would watch the ads. Thus the question that must be asked, “Will advertising during the Super Bowl payoff?” Companies that spend that kind of money have great pressure to captivate the viewer for just 30 seconds and must be willing to gamble high stakes to attract consumers.
There is a great history of memorable Super Bowl ads, including Britney Spears and Pepsi, or Budweiser. Most ads convey humor, or sexual imagery to make certain that the viewer remembers it so he/she can recite it to fellow employees at the water cooler the next day. An example that proved very successful and has been described as the greatest commercial of all time was a commercial that aired during the 1984 Super Bowl. The commercial featured “Apple” and propelled Macintosh to unbelievable profit and wealth. (Here is the link to the video of the commercial). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=:OYecfV3ubP8
The Apple commercial presented many hidden messages. It began very dark and gloomy as people marched in a line dressed in the same clothes with shaved heads and void of emotion on their faces. They all gathered in front of a big screen, as “The Big Brother” spoke the following message:
“My friends, each of you is a single cell in the great body of the State. And today, that great body has purged itself of parasites. We have triumphed over the unprincipled dissemination of facts. The thugs and wreckers have been cast out. And the poisonous weeds of disinformation have been consigned to the dustbin of history. Let each and every cell rejoice! For today we celebrate the first, glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directive! We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology, where each worker may bloom secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths. Our Unification of Thought is a more powerful weapon than any fleet or army on Earth! We are one people. With One will, One resolve. One cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death. And we will bury them with their own confusion! We shall prevail! “
It is understood that these people were living a pointless life and whereby their future was pre-determined, until a young women wearing bright red shorts and a white Apple Macintosh T-shirt runs towards the big screen carrying a sledge hammer. Chased by a storm of troopers, she throws the sledge hammer into the screen. The screen smashes and radiates an immense light on the people assembled in the room. The people appeared to change for the better as they stared into the light and a booming voice spoke out, “On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like 1984.” Imagery, subliminal messages and target audience focus in this ad can and have been analyzed in great detail.
What do you think of Super Bowl advertising? And the 1984 Apple commercial?

Britt Pronk

SuperBowl XLII

For a primary example of how effective television (visual) advertising can be, we need not look far but this past Sunday at the big Super Bowl event on FOX. It is reported that companies spend about $3 million for 30 seconds of limelight on the big screen. With over 80 to 90 million people tuned in for the big game, advertisers need to carefully find the most efficient way of catching people’s attention and somehow convince their audience – within the 30 seconds- to get their products.

From watching some of the ad’s this year, sexuality had a major role (as always, what’s new?). For example, there was a Victoria’s Secret ad which showed a great looking young woman in black lingerie and a football. This was probably trying to send a message to its viewers about how football, a great manly sport, has such a great connection with women and sexy lingerie. I guess you can say that as much as women get turned on by tough football players, men also get turned on by women in sexy lingerie. If it’s a male audience, then it’s telling the guy: “if you want to be turned on by your partner, go to Victoria’s Secret and get your woman that lingerie!!” On the other hand, if it’s a female audience, it’s telling her to: “go to Victoria’s Secret so you can seduce your partner the way you’re attracted to his ‘manliness’.”
Another good example would be the Go Daddy.com “Danica Patrick-exposure” commercial. The ad on television suggested that she would expose herself. In the end viewers find that in order to view the full commercial, you would need to visit Go Daddy.com. Naturally, Danica Patrick is a very attractive woman. Like the millions of other viewers, I am also guilty of visiting Go Daddy.com to catch the conclusion. Even though she doesn’t fully expose herself online either, the message on television clearly seduced and attracted millions of people to visit the site. Some are eventually going to use the godaddy.com service to register for a domain address.

In my opinion, I personally won’t speak out against sexual advertising because sexual attraction is a natural instinct in humans which has dated back all the way to the very first human beings. If companies want to use a sex symbol for advertising, my response is “go for it.” However, certain boundaries and limitations must be kept, as is with everything in life.

mOE wADUD