• Wall Street Journal , Tuesday, November 11, 2008 11:15 AM

Suzanne Vranica writes that some veteran big-game marketers are questioning whether it's worth the bang to spend as much as $3 million for 30 seconds of Super Bowl glory in these "tough economic times."

NBC says it has about eight ad slots left to fill, roughly the same number that were left in September. Anheuser-Busch, CareerBuilder.com, Hyundai, PepsiCo, Paramount Pictures, Cars.com and Coca-Cola are already in the line-up, as is newcomer Pedigree, the dog-food brand owned by Mars. Among those who are on the fence is 12-time advertiser FedEx. General Motors, which has been in 16 games, and Garmin, which has advertised for the past two years, have bowed out.

Jumping into high-priced media deals can raise lots of image questions, ad executives tell Vranica. "With this much money on the line it can be a negative reflection on a company, especially if they are cutting back staff or getting a government bailout," says Steve Lanzano, COO at MPG North America.

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