The Super Bowl is here, which means millions of Americans will gather on Sunday to indulge in a national pastime: watching ads on television. The NFL season’s last game, between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers, is the greatest event of the year for the US advertising business.
Companies will spend an average of $7 million for 30 seconds in front of a 115 million-strong audience in 2023. This year, huge companies face a significant task in vying for buzz with megastar Taylor Swift, who will fly in from a concert engagement in Tokyo to witness her boyfriend play.
Her affair with Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce is projected to increase viewership to historic levels, with teenagers and tweens grabbing a seat on the family sofa to see their hero cheer for her man from a luxury box.
Advertisers pay exorbitant fees because the Super Bowl is one of the few occasions when a politically divided and culturally fragmented country meets in front of a single show.
“There’s no other medium where you can get more than 100 million simultaneous viewers,” said Charles Taylor, a marketing professor at Villanova University.
“This is like the old days when an advertiser can reach most of America with an ad campaign. Today, we’ve just got no other venue to do that,” he added.
Celebrities galore
Ad agencies are careful not to incite a culture war that may involve brands. Last year, Bud Light faced a right-wing boycott after teaming up with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney on social media.
Playing it safe in Super Bowl ads typically entails middle-of-the-road celebs being hilarious (or at least giving it a fair shot), and this year’s choices are jam-packed with stars promoting corporations in gag-filled commercials.
Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer from “Friends” and British supercouple David and Victoria Beckham frequent an Uber Eats location.
Lionel Messi, who now plays for Inter Miami, appears in a Michelob Lite commercial alongside NFL icon Dan Marino and “Ted Lasso” star Jason Sudeikis.
Bud Light’s commercial, still stinging from last year’s debacle, is primarily set in the expected confines of a sports bar. Celebrity guests include tattooed rapper Post Malone, who will sing “America the Beautiful” at Sunday’s game.
An ad for Budweiser shows the brand’s renowned Clydesdale horses transporting kegs of beer amid a snowstorm. During a three-hour game, advertisements will typically showcase other products viewers wish to have within reach.
Chris Pratt, the mustachioed “Guardian of the Galaxy” actor, plays a man who resembles Pringles’ mascot. Jenna Ortega of “Wednesday” is on hand to promote extra spicy Doritos in a spot that sees her outwitting two grandmothers.
‘Wonderful’
The Taylor Swift influence is influencing advertisements, with women-focused items playing a larger role. In a commercial featuring Cardi B, NYX Professional Makeup announced it would “tackle the traditionally male-dominated football industry”.
Dove, a soap brand, is running an advertisement that highlights how poor self-image can lead to girls abandoning sports.
Big tech will also make an appearance, though artificial intelligence will not be able to replace cryptocurrency, which has previously exploited the Super Bowl to promote firms that have since failed.
Microsoft will promote its recently relaunched Copilot chatbot, while Google will tug at the heartstrings with an advertisement featuring its Pixel phone doing miracles for the blind.
Derek Rucker, a marketing professor at Northwestern University, believes that despite the Swift circus, Sunday’s viewers will continue to watch advertisements.
The singer is “wonderful,” but “when it’s commercial time… people want to and will watch and discuss the commercials,” he told AFP.