I have a big decision to make.
Should I, or should I not, watch the Super Bowl?
I don’t want to watch the Super Bowl.
I have absolutely no interest in football.
But I might have to park myself in front of the TV (be sure my laptop and/or Kindle will be at the ready, if that happens) to see the ads that seem to generate at least as much excitement as the game itself.
I work in a field related to media.
If I miss out on the ads, half of me worries that I won’t be able to participate in the online water cooler that I know will strike up immediately (who am I kidding, it’s already started) once the ads kick off.
And if I don’t watch the ads, I won’t be able to write a snarky blog post on “the best Super Bowl ad” or “the worst Super Bowl ad” or “why the Super Bowl ads sucked” or… you get my drift.
The other half of me is rolling her eyes.
“Get over yourself,” says Other Half. “They’re just ads.”
Frankly, it seems absolutely ridiculous to me
that companies are paying $3 million for the chance to get one ad – ONE – aired.
Sure, it’ll be seen by millions of people, but who knows if they have any impact and actually propel people to use those services/buy those products?
Richard Feinberg, at Purdue University’s Department of Consumer Sciences and Retailing, certainly doesn’t think so. From a study that he did (emphasis mine):
A study by Feinberg suggests that even if people watch the commercials, they have a limited impact on longer-term memory. And if consumers cannot remember the companies or the products, the commercials do not lead to sales.
He asked 100 consumers who watched the 2010 Super Bowl to recall details from as many of the commercials as they could.
About 30 percent could accurately recall at least one company with a commercial, but respondents had low confidence in their memory, indicating that they “thought” that the company had a commercial. Few could accurately recall details of the commercials.
Feinberg says the most effective Super Bowl commercials are connected to a range of social media, other advertisements and promotions. The use of animals, humor, special effects and celebrities increase memorability, but that alone does not mean an increase in sales, he says.
$3 million for an ad… that you don’t even know will have an impact?
Not to get all Pollyanna on you, but my GOD. What that money could do to relieve oh, I don’t know, poverty, hunger, lack of shelter…
Yea, yea. I know it’s a business.
And I suppose by throwing money around these folks are keeping at least some people employed.
But still.
Of course, the ads are going to be online practically instantly, so I probably don’t have to watch the Super Bowl.
Which is a good thing, because I get no pleasure out of watching a bunch of grown men wearing Spandex crashing into each other as they fight over a ball.
(And it’s not even a round ball.)
Hmm…
Decision made. I will not be watching the Super Bowl.
But if you will, have fun… and will someone please explain the game to me?
Image: Anne-Lise Heinrichs via Flickr, CC 2.0
Some of the commercials are already online, so you don’t even have to watch the Super Bowl if all you’re into is the ads. Just do a search and start watching.
(No, I won’t be watching the Bowl either for the game or the ads. I have better things to be doing.)
@Sushi What did you end up doing?
@Shonali Starting to read a very long fanwork that multiple people have pestered me to read for nearly a year. It’s about time I started reading it, and it was more entertaining the game or the ads.
@Sushi Sweet! Now that’s what I call productivity.
The reason that companies shell out gobs of $$$ for a spot in the Super Bowl is the coprporations belief that being in the SB buys the pedigree they can’t otherwise earn and the big agencies that create the spots will keep telling the big corps that if ot in SB, well something must be wrong. Trying to end hunger/homelessness etc. isn’t done here, that’s another dept. My questions (totally unrelated to your original topic) is why no one has the stones to counter program the SB. How ’bout a movie theatre chain running a real concession special one day a year only (Super Sunday)? That would certainly peak the interest of you and most of the rest of the US that doesn’t really care about the game. Oh and props to you and anyone else that considers the SuperBowl unrecoverable hours of their life.
@barryrsilver I think you hit the nail on the head. Though I wonder about the corps. that already have the pedigree yet insist on shelling out the moolah.
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I will not be watching the Super Bowl either. You can always catch up on any remarkable ads after the fact, and let’s face, usually there aren’t too many. I was thinking about what I could do during that time while the world is more quiet than normal — now that sounds like fun.
@ericaholt I ended up reading in bed (!) and going to sleep much earlier than I would otherwise have done… and boy, did it feel good!