Super Bowl Advertising

Advertising in the Super Bowl has become almost as big as the game itself. For some people it may be the main reason they watch the game, and for advertisers it is clearly a very good opportunity for them to reach a wide audience. Every year there always seems to be one commercial that stirs up some controversy. In the past there was the GoDaddy.com commercial, which showed race car driver Danica Patrick taking off her clothes and walking out with a GoDaddy Logo. This year was one that nobody expected. Coca-Cola’s America the Beautiful commercial had people in an uproar because it was sung in nine different languages. In my opinion it was a great commercial, showing the diversity of America and how we have changed. But then again it also showed that there are still some people who feel that America should be white English-speaking people. This excerpt from an article written by Gary Younge shows just how pigheaded some people can be:

"If we cannot be proud enough as a country to sing America the Beautiful in English," said former congressman Allen West, "by a company as American as they come – doggone we are on the road to perdition." Fox commentator Todd Starnes tweeted: "Coca-Cola is the official soft drink of illegals crossing the border." Another angry viewer tweeted: "Nice to see that Coke likes to sing an AMERICAN song in the terrorist's language."

I believe that we need to be more open minded and open to change in America, because we are no longer just white English-speaking people.

Another issue that always comes up with the Super Bowl is the cost of commercials. The cost of Super Bowl commercials has increased year after year, leading some people to wonder whether or not it is really worth the cost to advertise during the game. Ritchie King of Quartz says, “One thing is clear though: for the biggest advertisers, that $3.75 million is truly a pittance. In fact, some of them make almost as much in profits in an average 3.5 hours—roughly the time it takes to air the Super Bowl itself.” General Motors had two 60 second ads in the Super Bowl this year. The most memorable one is called Romance for the Chevy Silverado. It shows a Bull being sent to breed with a female cow. These two commercials combined probably cost somewhere around $15 million, but according to the diagram in Ritchie’s article, GM earns roughly $3.75 million in 3.5 hours. So for big companies it clearly makes sense to advertise in the Super Bowl seeing as this years game was the most watched television event in America’s History.