Every year, millions of viewers from around the world watch the football spectacle known as the Super Bowl. Some are cheering on their team to bring them a championship. Some just want to witness a competitive game. However, most are watching it for the commercials.
“I watch football on the regular,” says Ingrid Reyes, a junior majoring in Secondary Education, “but I have to say that because of the teams that ended up going to the Super Bowl this year, the commercials were the main reason I watched the game.”
On the flip side, there are those who balance the value of the game and commercials. Vincent Brevard, a junior marketing major, is a prime example. He says the commercials add on to the reason why he watches the game.
Super Bowl commercials tend to contain themes of comedy, action, or sex appeal; usually whatever catches the audience’s eye. Advertisers are paying a considerable amount of money to have their commercials aired during the Super Bowl. 30-second commercials, during the 2010 Super Bowl on CBS, sold for between $2.5 million and $2.8 million, according to TNS Media Intelligence.
The 2011 Super Bowl commercials seemed more conservative this year, using the middle lane instead of merging into the fast lane. In previous years, advertisers took risks that also budged ethical boundaries.
“I thought some of the commercials were pretty funny, but none of them were serious and over the top like back in the day. Too many commercials were trying to be too funny when we were expecting it,” Brevard said.
Celebrities were the big buzz in this year’s commercials; celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Eminem, Kim Kardashian, Ozzy Ozborne and more.
However, companies that had the privilege of having celebrities as their endorsers failed. Snickers were one of them. Last year, they scored with Betty White playing football. This year involved Roseanne Barr and Richard Lewis logging. Roseanne complains about her back and gets nailed with a log. It just didn’t receive the comical laughs that Betty White created when she got tackled in the mud. As an advertiser, it is almost impossible to escape controversy when producing an appealing or entertaining commercial. Sealy’s, Doritos and Sketchers experienced this. All three used sexual themes in their advertisements.
In the Sealy’s commercial, there are different shots of couples with satisfied looks on their faces lying in bed. At the end, the screen depicts “It’s better on springs. Whatever you do in bed, Sealy supports it.” Sealy’s took the risky route on this one.
Doritos pushed the boundaries on sexuality, specifically homosexuality. The advertisement took place in an office and had a man craving for a taste of Doritos. After one of his co-workers finishes eating a bag of Doritos, he licks his co-worker’s finger. Later, another co-worker wipes Doritos stains on his pants; the craving Doritos man rips off his pants and sniffs them. As expected, this caused a stir on online forums and blogs.
Kim Kardashian’s Sketchers shoe commercial turned heads instantly to TV screens late Sunday night. Kardashian, dressed in black yoga gear, breaks up with her trainer, telling him things aren’t “working out.” After close up shots on her body, she explains what is “working out.” You guessed it, her Sketchers. “Kim Kardashian is about to give Sketchers some good business,” said Kene Eze, an undeclared freshman, with a smile on his face. “Every guy has a new perception on Sketchers now that Kim is advertising them.”
As controversial as the commercials were, there were companies that surprised many viewers and did shockingly well. Volkswagen, Career Builder, E-Trade and Chevrolet took the crown in this category.
Volkswagen created simple storylines for their commercials. They used a little boy, dressed in a Darth Vader costume, trying to use supernatural powers with his hands. He attempts it on objects in his house, yet nothing seems to work. Finally, he goes to his father’s car, which is a Volkswagen, and the car magically turns on. The little boy is ecstatic, while the father is in the house watching him through the window pressing the automatic starter button.
“I thought the storyline of this commercial was precious,” said Reyes. “It made me chuckle and brought back childhood memories.”
Career Builder and E-trade probably created the most laughs this year. Career Builder’s commercial was based on monkeys parking cars at work. They trap a man from getting out of his car by parking very close to him and another car ramming the side of his car. The monkeys, wearing suits, walk away casually from the scene and head to work.
E-trade had their usual baby talking as an adult theme; it seems like people never get tired of this.
“Chevrolet’s commercial was my favorite,” said Sam Siegel, a freshman majoring in International business.
Chevrolet ran deep with its commercials this year as well. In one of its commercials, there is a yellow Camaro, like the one from Transformers, being advertised to the public. A mascot comes in the picture and starts hitting the car. The Camaro suddenly turns into a transformer, and then throws the mascot across the lot. “The car transformed into a transformer,” said Siegel. “It can’t get much better than that.”
As you can see, Super Bowl commercials this year had its ups and downs. For the ones that struggled, there’s always next year.
