The cost of a 30-second spot at Super Bowl XLIV is rumored to be around $2.8 million, down about $200,000 from last year’s usual price. Taking advantage of the discount are some perennial Super Bowl advertisers like Careerbuilder, GoDaddy, and Anheuser-Busch Anheuser Busch Inbev. That said, some mainstays of the big game — most notably Pepsi, which has advertised during the Super Bowl for two consecutive decades in a desperate bid to prove their drink tastes better than Coke – will sit this one out.
There will still be controversy, duds, and movie trailers you’ve seen before. You can even look forward to a retread of the infamous ‘Super Bowl Shuffle‘ courtesy of Boost Mobile. But with any luck, some of these ads might just turn out to be Super Bowl classics in their own right, destined to be discussed awkwardly by Barbara Walters on ‘The View’ and fondly (and not so fondly) remembered years down the line in Web site features all across the Internet in the lead up to Super Bowls yet to come.
Speaking of which…
SALESGENIE.COM – SUPER BOWL XL II (2008) – Smack in the middle of the third quarter of what would become known as one of the greatest upsets in Super Bowl history (Giants 17, Patriots 14), the marketing department of Salesgenie — which is apparently some kind of database marketing company — aired what seemed, at first, to be an innocuous image: cute pandas selling furniture. Things quickly took a turn for the offensive when it became clear that this marketing department couldn’t tell the difference between typical Asian men, chubby pandas, and Charlie Chan.
Salesgenie’s CEO apologized two days later, though they decided to keep airing their other ethnic ad that, according to the New York Times, featured an “animated salesman named Ramesh who speaks with an Indian or other South Asian accent.”
“More people seem upset about the pandas than Ramesh,” explained the exasperated CEO.
COCA COLA – SUPER BOWL XIV (1980) – We’re cheating a bit here, because this world-famous ad starring former Pittsburgh Steelers all-pro tackle ‘Mean Joe Greene’ didn’t actually debut during the Super Bowl — its initial appearance on the unsuspecting airwaves was actually a few months prior to the January contest. It still deserves a place in this list, though, because of all the mileage said airwaves have since gotten out of its absurdity.
Just two years ago, Coke itself revived the skit to advertise Coke Zero (which, though it tastes nothing like the real thing, is admittedly packaged much more attractively than Diet Coke). The 2008 ad features Steelers strong safety Troy Polamalu and, according to Greene, includes a “perfect twist ending” that stays true to the original meaning of the ad while contributing something new to its overall meaning.
APPLE COMPUTER INC. – SUPER BOWL XVIII (1984) – Produced with a then-astronomical budget of $900,000, this third-quarter advertisement was directed by Ridley Scott just a year after filming wrapped on Blade Runner. Though Apple’s board of directors hated the commercial when they saw it in December 1983, the company’s co-founders, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, decided to take the chance and air it during the big game. They knew they’d only get one chance to air the ad, styled as it was after Orwell’s ‘1984,’ during the year ‘1984’ before such a large audience.
Almost overnight, the ad became a massive hit that managed to introduce Apple’s core philosophy (essentially: We’re sexy. Oh, and IBM wants to control your thoughts) to customers wary after the company’s Lisa computer bombed faster than a G4 Cube. Apple would try again with a similarly gloomy ad during the ‘Y2K’ scare, but, much to Jobs’ dismay, the widespread meltdown of the global economy that the 30-second spot predicted never quite materialized.
AMERIQUEST – SUPER BOWL XL (2006) – There’s something about doctors messing with patients that will never cease to amuse sadistic American television viewers, as evidenced most recently by Dr. Spaceman on NBC’s ’30 Rock’ , every episode of House, and the anonymous docs on Fox’s now-defunct ‘Arrested Development.’ Sure, there’s some talk now that employees from Ameriquest, which used to be the leading wholesale lender in the United States, were pressured into falsifying documents and selling bad mortgages to banks and possibly had a role in precipitating the financial crisis, but let’s not judge too quickly.
BUDWEISER – SUPER BOWL XXXVI (2001) – Though it was delayed into February, Super Bowl XXXVI was a cathartic event in many ways for Americans after the September 11 terror attacks. Budweiser took the opportunity to air a minute-long ad commemorating the lives lost by featuring its ever-adorable and ever-iconic Clydesdale horses bowing in front of the remains of the Twin Towers.
According to the Examiner, it doesn’t seem that the Clydesdales, who have been appearing in Super Bowls for some 30 years, will show up in Sunday’s game. But Budweiser has left the final decision up to its Facebook fans, who have the option to pick one of three ads to appear during the big game — including a spot featuring the Clydesdales.