With the biggest sporting event in the US comes, of course, the biggest advertising event in an already ad-driven society. As US companies vie for attention in some of the most expensive advertising spots on television, they try to be witty, tearjerking, patriotic, or quirky in an attempt to win over eyeballs that are usually glazed with an advertising stupor paired with excessive guacamole and beer.
The advertising event has become so overblown that popular US streaming video site Hulu even has an ad voting composition, inviting viewers to watch Super Bowl ads (interrupted by ads, of course) and cast their ballots for the ‘best.’ It’s all rather brilliant, really, if the goal is to get as many people as possible to watch and engage with ads: it becomes a sport in and of itself, with nary an eyebrow raised when it comes to asking why everyone is so eagerly consuming advertising as a form of entertainment.
Obviously, Budweiser’s ‘Puppy Love’ attracted a great deal of attention, featuring as it did one of the famous Budweiser Clydesdales, a cute puppy, and an adorable human love story. Hearts promptly exploded across the US when it aired – in contrast with the exploitative, gross, and manipulative ‘Hero’s Welcome,’ which used a member of the military to sell beer. Coming hard on the exploitation of a veteran in the State of the Union, the ad angered a number of viewers tired of seeing veterans used as political pawns and advertising objects.
My love for Terry Crews (currently appearing on Brooklyn Nine-Nine) was cemented in an advertisement for Toyota pairing his talent with that of the Muppets. There’s something about this ex-NFL star’s charisma and acting talent that pairs well with the delightfully goofball nature of the Muppets, although it was a bit tragic to see the iconic puppets shilling for cars. How the mighty have fallen, eh?
Meanwhile, US automaker Chevy came up with the innovative idea of selling trucks through…cow sex? I couldn’t quite believe the rumours until I saw the advertisement myself, but there it was: a minute-long spot about a man, his truck, and, er, his bull. Thankfully the ad fades to black before the bull gets down to business, but it does lead one to wonder what exactly the whole affair had to do with Chevrolet trucks.
Speaking of automakers, Volkswagen proudly proclaimed that every time a VW hits 100,000 miles, a German engineer gets his wings – judging from my experiences as a former VW owner, I must say that there are probably a lot of engineers out there still patiently waiting for their wings. While some puffery is to be expected in car ads, surely Volkswagen doesn’t want to test the bounds of believability entirely.
The Super Bowl ads also showcased the growing trend for ‘Greek Yoghurt’ in the United States, a mysterious product that appears to be made by subjecting milk to some sort of strange process that involves not simply culturing it to make yoghurt and then straining it, as the Greeks and Turks intended, but instead using artificial thickeners and a list of sweeteners a mile long in order to render it palatable to dulled tastebuds. Producers Chobani and Oikos both made a showing with enticements to buy their nauseatingly sweet, bizarrely textured products.
What intrigues me about the annual Super Bowl ads is not so much what was on show—the usual parade of automakers, sexist advertising, insurance companies, and the occasional quirky bit—but what wasn’t. The Super Bowl is one of the most notoriously difficult ad markets to break into, with very difficult ‘decency standards’ set by networks who can avoid to be choosy when firms are ravenously competing for precious airtime during the Big Game.
Thus, even in a more permissive era for advertising, ads that don’t fit within a very specific set of right-wing conservative Christian morals generally don’t make the cut. Evidently it’s fine to sell cars with cow sex, or domain hosting with half-naked women, but gay couples aren’t to be allowed, nor are, for example, suggestive condom ads, or advertisements promoting equal rights and fair treatment for all people in the US. The list of disallowed subjects in Super Bowl advertising is tightly controlled by the NFL, which knows networks will comply or risk losing their chance to air one of the most lucrative events in television.
These advertisements tell viewers a great deal about US culture—viewers from the outside must find it alternately bewitching, bothering, and bewildering. They’re also a testimony for those of us living within the US, in terms of what is socially acceptable and what is not, what is allowed culturally and what is frowned upon. People licking terrible yoghurt off each other is, apparently, permitted, but lighthearted advertisements encouraging people to practice safe sex are not.
Notably, and somewhat bizarrely, firearms manufacturers and related firms are not permitted to advertise during the Super Bowl, thanks to a ban on such ads from the NFL. In a country many people view as gun-obsessed, there is a stark hilarity to the fact that at the biggest sporting event on the year, an event some argue is deeply tied with masculine identity and expression in the US, guns, also inextricably entwined with what it means to be a man in US culture, are nowhere to be seen.
Photo by ninacoco, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
Stop. Being on bradys nut sack he ain’t that good at full petetial Russel Wilson will dominate