• by Jack Myers , February 2, 2007

Are you sick of the Super Bowl advertising hype? Have you picked up on the backlash against Super Bowl advertising? When did advertising explode to shift the public focus from the game to the advertising? Was it during the Internet boom years, or does it go as far back at the famous Apple commercial? Is this the year when viewers say, enough already?

Yes, the concept of embedded advertising and branded entertainment represents the future of a DVR-dominated TV world, but just what is the programming here and what is the game? The Super Bowl is different from "The Apprentice." Yes, advertising can and should be attention-getting. But the pre-hype surrounding this year's Super Bowl and marketers' desperation to attract attention to their messages is over-the-top. And I just don't care. (Of course, I'm not in the treasured demo, so marketers don't care about me, either!)

A few years ago, we could hope for some controversial ads, including ads that went creatively too far to capture attention (think flatulent horses). But with the Janet Jackson affair the turning point when Super Bowl jumped the shark and the near-censoring of the Go Daddy commercials, it's doubtful commercials will be sexual or controversial. So what do we have to look forward to after all the hype? Disappointment! Plus anyone who cares has already seen the Nationwide Insurance Kevin Federline ad, so there will be no surprise there. Martha Stewart, David Beckham, Danica Patrick and Robert Goulet will also appear in ads, reports Carat's Sararuth Delice.

Ironically, the most prominent pre-game hype has been around user-generated ad messages and a wedding proposal. But I find I don't care about any of it. I've tried to avoid the endless advance articles about the ads. At $2.6 million per, marketers can't be blamed for doing everything possible to reach every possible eyeball and generate high awareness. Jobs are at stake if next-day recall scores are in the trasher. Agency reputations and relationships are jeopardized if campaigns are dragged in the mud, which some will be.

There is something about the whole scene this year that seems to have caused a general sense of discomfort among football fans. Where is the game? Is this about a football championship, or is this simply about commercialism? Of course, there's the obvious argument that television is about commercialism and that capitalism is good, and I've made that case myself. Without the revenue potential, we wouldn't have the game to begin with.

But CBS, the NFL and marketers seem to have forgotten the real point of Super Bowl Sunday. Maybe I'll feel differently during the game, and while I'll have no choice but to watch the commercials, I fear the game itself will be minimized by the blatant and endless commercialism. Expectations have been set higher for the commercials than for the game itself. Maybe this is all good. What do you think?