” The Superbowl has long been one of the most entertaining sporting events throughout the year. Seeing the two best NFL teams duking it out in the biggest game of the season, grown men crashing into each other like barbarians and fierce competition? What’s not to like? Even people who aren’t particularly great sports fans become interested in this one game.”
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The Superbowl has long been one of the most entertaining sporting events throughout the year. Seeing the two best NFL teams duking it out in the biggest game of the season, grown men crashing into each other like barbarians and fierce competition? What’s not to like?

Even people who aren’t particularly great sports fans become interested in this one game. If not because all of their friends and family members are attending some sort of Superbowl party and there’s nothing else to do, it’s because this is the one time that people don’t complain about an abundance of usually irritating commercials during whatever they’re watching. Sometimes the commercials are more interesting than the game itself, and debates over which one was the best may be more plentiful than those concerning who really should have won the game.

And the commercials better be good, for they carry a hefty price tag: up to $2.7 million for a 30-second spot. Think about that for a moment. A college graduate with a bachelor’s degree will make, on average, approximately $2.2 million in a lifetime. What we will have spent our entire lives earning isn’t worth even 30 seconds during this one sporting event. Wow.

Needless to say, a lot of time and creative talent goes into producing a Super Bowl commercial.

Some of them clearly show that. This year’s commercials weren’t quite as memorable, though Hank the Clydesdale and his K-9 trainer stand out, as does the Bud Light commercial with the various pick up lines. We make sandwich. I be meat!

Some of them, well, were a bit lacking in the creativity department. While not the most creative of pitches, it’s good to know that Zantac exists for my heartburn. And I know that Careerbuilder.com serves some purpose or another, though I can’t tell you exactly how that idea was presented.

Of course, good ole Luie P. was there, plugging away the University of Akron. Gives us props, I guess, but this one landed somewhere in the middle of the creativity continuum.

You can bet that people will be talking about the commercials (and maybe the game) for at least a little while, but how many people are still talking about the State of the Union address given just last week?

It seems as if our priorities are a bit out of order. Super Bowl commercials need to be creative because it means huge exposure for the company. In 2004, some 144 million people watched Super Bowl XXXVII. In comparison, in that same year, only 62 million people actually voted for our country’s next president and other various government officials. For some reason, a bunch more people found it more convenient to take a solid three hours out of their day to watch sports than take the time to arrange a 15 minute slot during a 12-hour period to participate in electing our country’s leaders.

And consider this: Bush makes about $400,000 per year doing, well… whatever he does, but it’ll be over soon. A sizable salary, for sure. In comparison, a starting NFL player with no league experience makes, at minimum, a mere $285,000, signing bonuses not included. Give that same player two years experience, and he’s making slightly more than the president at $435,000. That’s right, the NFL’s worst players will make more than the president at some point during his term.

Entertainment is big business, of course. Sports, specifically, generate tons of revenue and captivate millions of people on nearly a daily basis. In contrast, it’s only every once in awhile that people think about politics in a meaningful way. I thought politics was important enough that these inequities would be somewhat less significant, but perhaps I’m wrong.

Insane amounts of money are thrown at public icons that give us very little in return. Wouldn’t it make sense if it were the government officials instead? Maybe then we’ll get a little something done. While our priorities aren’t likely to change, at least we have moderately entertaining Super Bowl commercials to keep ourselves entertained.

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