After watching the Super Bowl, I began to ponder the effectiveness of the commercials. Companies spent millions of dollars for a single advertisement that only lasted around thirty seconds.
Although they were entertaining, were they actually worth the expense?
As a senior in high school, most of the advertisements were hard to relate to. The majority of commercials tried to market a specific car or beer brand. Although I can drive, I am nowhere near economically stable enough to afford a new BMW, and as entertaining as the beer commercials were, I am still three years under the legal drinking age.
I know the commercials were aimed towards middle aged, male sports fans, but I felt there was a broader audience this year. From young, elementary school boys to even elderly women, everyone was watching. Hey, even my three year old cousin was cheering for the Seahawks and Patriots.
There lies the big question, are the fans actually paying attention to the product being marketed or are they solely critiquing the humor of the commercials? I know that for me, I was rating the commercial on how entertaining it was rather than its persuasiveness.
I have to say I was a bit confused by some of the tactics companies used this year. Some commercials went the sappy route and tried to trigger emotions of sadness. Companies used sick puppies, the elderly, and even the disabled to try and connect with a larger range of people, but I think this caught many off guard.
I still have specific commercials engraved in my brain from last year’s Super Bowl, but I am confident that I will not have long term memories of any from this year.
One of the best from 2014 was the Volkswagen commercial that altered the classic line from It’s a Wonderful Life, “every tiime a bell rings, an angel gets his wings to “every time a Volkswagem hits 100,00 miles, a German engineer gets his wings.” It was clever and also lured people in by using a well known movie.
This yeat though, I am stuck remembering the cute, yet emotional Dove Men + Care commercial that showed clips of children and their fathers. It said that the only thing that could make a man stronger is showing that he cares. Although it was adorable, I really wasn’t expecting my eyes to be watering during a football game.
The Super Bowl is supposed to be a time when fans gather together to cheer on their favorite teams, not the time for an emotional sob fest. I guess it’s a propaganda tactic, but was the Super Bowl really the appropriate time to use it?
I believe that the Super Bowl is one of the only times people enjoy watching commercials. For me, they are my favorite part, but that’s only because I don’t really understand football to begin with. Even my science teacher said that his wife solely watches for the commercials and the halftime show.
From what I’ve heard around school though, no one was blown away by the commercials this year. I don’t think I heard a specific one that absolutely everyone was talking about because of how funny or interesting it was.
Although they are generally entertaining, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m jumping out of my seat to go buy the product after watching the commercial.
This year, my favorite was the commercial of Kim Kardashian sarcastically trying to make it appear that if one did not have AT&T’s new data plan, it was a tragedy. I laughed because of how ridiculous she sounded, but, again, it didn’t make me want to run to the store to buy a new data plan.
To me, the commercials didn’t really seem to accomplish the goal of persuading one to buy the product and only a few were entertaining. At least Katy Perry and the left shark rocked the halftime show, right?