Super Bowl ads "winged" by Philly gorge-fest

Feb 4, 2009 By Gale Hammond

So another Super Bowl is relegated to the history books, and by Super Bowl standards, Super Bowl XLIII was a pretty decent game. But as in years past, the game was partially overshadowed by its many, um … accoutrements. Even NBC, who hosted the extravaganza, jumped on the Super Bowl bandwagon with a pre-game interview of a casually dressed President Barack Obama at the White House.

But the new president wasn't why Americans were tuned in on Sunday. Oh, no; and while the Super Bowl games are an American institution, two other mainstays crucial to the Super Bowl were vying for our attention: those Super Bowl ads and that special "cuisine" peculiar to Super Bowl Sunday.

Much is made of the storied Super Bowl ads. With one out of every three Americans tuned in for the big game, this is advertiser heaven and, yes, ad costs are astronomical. Going for a cool $100,000 per second, those clever "mad men" are perpetually on the hot seat to create better and more inventive ads each time Super Bowl Sunday rolls around.

The trouble is, this year brought on a slight problem or two. Besides a tanking economy and low consumer spending, no innovative products have appeared on the marketing scene recently. This spells trouble on Madison Avenue when past "Super Sundays" have hyped a cornucopia of new consumer products like the Toyota Prius, Apple's Macintosh, the Fusion razor by Gillete, the Discover card and mega drug company Eli Lilly's Cialis, all of which made their world debuts during the Super Bowl.

This year, with the economy gone bust, a few corporations wisely made some adjustments to the Super Bowl's ad roster. Notice the absence of the "Big Three" automaker commercials? Yep, the corporate suits in Detroit astutely figured out that Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Taxpayer know what a Super Bowl ad costs and would be unappreciative of their bailout funds going to pay the tab for $3 million commercials in the prime Super Bowl time slots.

Career-searching Web site ads were prevalent on Sunday. With unemployment numbers mounting, these ads were a sign of the times and took aim at the employed as well as out-of-work job seekers. If you still have a job, perhaps you identified with the office worker whose desk supported the rear portion of the large antlered moose whose body was thrust through the wall while its head adorned the swanky office of a corporate big wig. The hapless employee's desk on the other side of the wall resided at the, um … "tail section" area of the mammal where the poor fool dealt with, well, mountains of "pollution" regularly raining down on his head.

"Yep, there's my office," moaned one of the observers at our Super Bowl gathering. See what I mean? The biggest scores weren't necessarily made on the football field.

Again this year, beverage commercials were plentiful and amusing. Anheuser-Busch, with its long-term contract of product exclusivity, brought out the big guns. Not to mention the really big horses: those awesome Clydesdales. And soft drink giant Pepsi scored a coup with its deal that blocked Coke commercials during the first half of the game. Pepsi and Coke took the fun and fantasy route in their ads for the "feel good" component people seek in hard economic times.Sometimes what you don't see in an ad makes a pretty good point. When a dog food company makes a commercial advocating dog adoption without a single dog in sight, it may seem like a pretty risky move. But put assorted other livestock into the ad like a rhino, a rampaging ostrich, a large-tusked boar and even a good-natured cow that gets bonked in the nose with a Frisbee, add a wink and a nod to "get a dog" at the ad's conclusion - and you've got a dang clever commercial.

Fan favorite ads included USA Today's Ad Meter $1 million winner for Doritos (made by Indiana amateurs for a pittance), Budweiser's "Daisy" love story and Bridgestone's Mr. And Mrs. Potato Head. Me? I cracked up over Denny's hilarious "Thugs" where hard-core mafia types linger over a diner breakfast in a dismal discussion about a pair of cement shoes (so to speak) for somebody who'd had an unfortunate rift with the "family." The friendly waitress spraying whipped cream clown faces over the diners' pancake breakfast plates was classic funny business.

But if Sunday's Super Bowl ads seemed a little lackluster and your fondest activity during this year's game was the business of chowing down those scrumptious Super Bowl snacks, then have I got a news flash for you. In Philadelphia, John "Super" Squibb won the annual "Wing Bowl" by downing 203 chicken wings in 20 minutes. Think about THAT for a minute, people! "Super" walked away with a new car, a crown of miniature chickens and a $7,500 diamond ring. Oh, and a little heartburn. Yep: makes all those Super Bowl ads pale in comparison.