The US Superbowl has just finished for another year. It’s a big event by any stretch of the imagination, one that’s designed for TV and that is used by marketers to launch big budget advertising campaigns designed to get sales flowing.
From a marketer’s viewpoint advertising during the Superbowl is understandable. A chance to reach a huge national audience with the use of a cleverly conceived advertisement is an opportunity not to be overlooked quickly. But these are matters of only passing interest here.
On Twitter this morning (I’m in Australia) I noticed something quite unexpected. It came as no shock to me to see people tweeting about touchdowns and timeouts and all else that happens in American Football. But what caught me out was the amount of people who seemed fascinated by the TV ads appearing for the first time during the breaks in the on-field action.
Some urged their followers to vote for their favourite Superbowl ad on sites that had sections dedicated to just that – Superbowl ads. Others provided links to sites that contained video re-runs and still others were either critical or complimentary of the advertisements displayed.
Hashtags.org (as of the writing of this post) reported that on Febraury 1 and 2, the hashtags #superads09 and #superbowlads were tweeted 3352 and 2778 times respectively. The hashtag #superbowl was tweeted 8288.
So why the fascination with advertising during the Superbowl? In a time when people are supposedly time poor and when advertising is seen as an imposition on our time, why is Superbowl advertising of so much interest to the population of Twitter? What does this fascination say about our culture and our society?
I propose the fascination comes from a desperate urge to escape. Advertising promises an escape from the harsh unreality of the meaningless of modern life, an escape to something that can only be achieved through consumption. If we buy this product we are sure to feel better, look better, do better. Our salvation and emancipation is directly connected with consumption.
Our consumption provides us with a tentative social existence and gives us an opportunity to reveal ourselves to society. Advertising during the Superbowl provides us with a suite of possibilities about who we might become through future consumption. When ads resonate they give us hope that the future might be better. When they disappoint they do so because they fail to provide that hope; hope for an escape from an almost unbearable world.
Fascination with advertising then is no more and no less than a fascination with all of the other artifices of consumerism. Whether it be advertising or wrapping or product design, each promises something that’s missing. Each promises escape. And each is essentially empty.
Just like capitalism.
I’m inclined to think of ad campaigns tapping into the pulse of how we envisage ourselves and our desires. Williamson’s ‘Decoding Advertisments’ touches on it I think. In short, ads target a culture, uses or recreates its ‘myths’, and sells them back to people who recognise who they are, or who they want to be, in the product. So I don’t so much consider it escapism as pandering to the ego.
The superbowl advertising campaigns are responsible for creating some lasting culture-myths. Perhaps the fascination is an understanding that not only will people see themselves as how they want to be (ads as art as reflection of reality), but there’s a sense that something new will be adopted into culture. Something like ‘wassaaaaap’, or ‘not..happy..Jan’ (as an example of an Australian campaign that has been adopted into Aussie culture).
Apparently advertising grossed approximately $3 million for one 30second advertisement during the SuperBowl!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480484,00.html
and
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/01/31/nbc-sells-out-super-bowl-for-record-advertising-revenue/11889
but I guess you already knew these – astounding isn’t it?
Peter
You can not access those adds via the link because the site is for US residents only.
“International
For now, Hulu is a U.S. service only. That said, our intention is to make Hulu’s growing content lineup available worldwide. This requires clearing the rights for each show or film in each specific geography and will take time. We’re encouraged by how many content providers have already been working along these lines so that their programs can be available over the Internet to a much larger, global audience. The Hulu team is committed to making great programming available across the globe.
I noticed that Chris – and I was almost happy that it didn’t work. Since then I’ve discovered that SlideSpace is sharing the ads on Facebook.
I also found the ads on Yahoo! tonight.
Watched them all – unsure what the fuss is about though.
A couple had me laughing, but not the whole way through.
I think my lack of appreciation (for the SB ads ie) has to do with cultural view – like how the Kath and Kim humour didn’t transfer to the USA – similar to the colloquial phrase: “You had to be there” or whatever.
Cultural norms.
I watch and laugh at sitcoms from the USA but maybe I don’t really ‘get it’.
Like ‘what the?’ -did Rove steal that or is it an Ausi-ism. Okay, okay, off the track!
However, at $3 million for a 30 second spot – you’d have to pay attention to that if it benefits you!
The only product I can remember is Budweiser, and since I don’t drink beer it didn’t influence me – but then again, I’ve never been an advertising man’s dream and my preferences are usually unique and unintentionally alternative. Hippie even.
Thanks for your thoughts on the futile lure of consumerism, and for causing me to think about ads in general.
It has been a highlight.