The Super Bowl has seduced viewers with advertisements greater than those of everyday primetime television. It is during this annual cavalcade of endorsements that the commercial is taken to a higher level: an art form. Here, the goal is to contain the maximum entertainment within the smallest package possible. With Super Bowl spots costing upwards of $2.5 million in recent years, the stakes are at their highest for major companies.
Bud Light, who stole a laugh with less focus on the physical humor, may have produced the best commercials seen on Sunday, but they really weren’t that great. The typical, marginally funny ad controlled the night—advertisers apparently still think explosions and slapstick humor are surprising and outrageous. We’ve grown weary of it.
Why did the night consist of so many bland, half-hearted attempts at hilarity? Maybe the Super Bowl is just “too big” a venue for the truly brilliant commercial. Perhaps the most prized slots of the year for advertisers leave no room for the artistic nuances of Burger King’s “King” (whose genius was almost tarnished by his appearance in this year’s Super Bowl ad). The campaign’s fearlessness in employing horror-film editing is a perfect example of risking alienation to throw the viewer off-guard. Sadly, even the King could not frighten us out of our stupor last Sunday.
Statistical advertising research this year must have revealed that most Americans fall into the “idiot” category and, accordingly, executives catered to such consumers. I imagine the term used in meetings would be “dumb down.” Yet, the advertisement must innovate without alienating its target audience.
It is a rare ad that can effectively attract the common viewer while retaining its artistic integrity, but can we really excuse these agencies’ lack of innovation? We should feel hurt that companies have chosen talking animals as their primary method of communication to the American people. I can only imagine the throngs of rundown office workers, forced to talk about football on Monday morning due to the dearth of inspired Super Bowl commercials.
