” Super Bowl commercials are popular for several reasons. These include humor, glamour and of course, for the sickeningly high price tags that accompany them. It may have surprised many students, then, to see President Proenza himself in the midst of Conan O’Brien, the Budweiser horse and a few emus.”
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Super Bowl commercials are popular for several reasons. These include humor, glamour and of course, for the sickeningly high price tags that accompany them.

It may have surprised many students, then, to see President Proenza himself in the midst of Conan O’Brien, the Budweiser horse and a few emus. In other words, in a Super Bowl commercial.

This development wasn’t new. According to UA spokesperson Ken Torisky, this practice is celebrating its eleventh anniversary this year.

What is new, however, is the current economic state of the University of Akron. Here’s a hint: it’s not good.

On January 30, a staff-wide e-mail was sent by Provost Elizabeth Stroble and VP for Finance and Administration John Case. The email discussed several options for saving costs, such as filling open positions only when necessary and drafting new budgets.

We need to work cooperatively to develop new revenue streams, to conserve resources and to streamline our operations, it said. We also have asked the vice presidents and deans to consider how they might reduce their budget by 10 percent.

While the phrase conserving resources may be interpreted in several different ways, Torisky does not seem to believe that it included cutting the annual Super Bowl commercial.

It is already built into the advertising budget, and it accounts for an increase in visitation, said Torisky. It also significantly boosts the image of the university.

The new commercial, which took about six weeks and $30,000 to produce, is based on promoting the University of Akron’s corrosion engineering programs. The new major is not yet listed on the College of Engineering Web site.

Torisky added that the price tag to air the commercial once during the actual Super Bowl and 15 times pre and post game on Channel 3 (only in Northeast Ohio) was $38,000.

I think it’s a huge waste of my tuition money, UA undergrad Adam Huffman said. I think that money should be spent on helping students.

Torisky, however, assured the Buchtelite that the money for the commercial came from a private fund. When asked to speak to the decision-maker on the issue, Torisky stated that he was the only one authorized to discuss the matter.

Student Nathan Dukes, however, noted that rival universities do not choose to spend their money in similar ways.

There wasn’t a Kent State [Super Bowl commercial], he said.

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