Bowl Ads Bigger Than Game
February 7, 2010 by Kristal Kinloch · Leave a Comment
Did anyone watch the Super Bowl to actually see the football game?
Over the past week the big game discussions primarily focused on what commercials would air. With advertisers paying close to $3 million dollars for a 30 second spot, perhaps commercials are what makes the game interesting.
Anticipation mounted for several ads including the “talking babies” spot from E-Trade. The company added a new baby to the popular commercials. The Budweiser commercials remain steadfast to the football arena, welcoming the return of the famous Clydesdale horses.
One controversial ad everyone was talking about was that showcasing Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow. The “Focus on the Family” 30-second spot ended up being a rather heart-warming commercial between mother and son.
Rejected Ads-
The always-risky godaddy.com, a domain name web-hosting site, found one of its ads dismissed from this year’s big game. Also excluded from the festivities was an ad from mancrunch.com. This male dating site is new to the commercial scene and wanted to promote their product, but was given the red light from CBS. What caught my eye during the game was a Motorola commercial featuring Meagan Fox. Fox was in a bubble bath promoting a new touch screen phone. However it was hard to focus on what she was selling, while she was in a bathtub leaving little to the imagination. Perhaps that ad should have been on the rejection list.
PEPSI, a mainstay in the Super Bowl, elected not to pay the hefty fee to advertise. Instead focusing their efforts on social media approaches.
The Battle of the once Unbeaten-
The actual game itself does bring up interesting story lines, including the battle of the best two teams in their respective conference. The Indianapolis Colts had a regular season record of 14-2 while the New Orleans Saints had a record of 13-3.
In recent years the Saints have become America’s team, representing a city still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Peyton Manning of the Colts is the face of the NFL, with the tall stature, powerful throwing arm and the commercial appeal to go along with his clean cut imagine.
The back and forth football battle remained on the back burner to the actual in between game showcase.
By the way- the Saints won!
