America goes nuts around this time of year. It’s Superbowl time. However, you don’t need to be an NFL sport nut to enjoy the atmosphere.
With the entire nation watching the game, the ad revenue goes through the roof, with millions of viewers potentially out to purchase whatever get advertised during Superbowl. But it’s not just payingbig bucks to promote yourself. The yearly tradition of producing the best commercials nearly outdoes itself every year, when you’re trying to come up with something fresh, original, and be humourous at the same time. Once you’ve made your ad, it will most likely go viral and you’ll understand that your $10 million budget on a 30 – 60 second commercial was well spent.
There’s no definitive list, these are just some previous Superbowl ads that have stood out by memory.
Hulu
30 Rock star Alec Baldwin promotes what is set to be a trending phenomenon – legal online TV show streaming. Hulu realised that ‘if you can’t beat them, join them!’ and promoted what would’ve been potentially boring “You can watch online for free!” to just taking the piss out of the concept.
Diet Pepsi Max
What started off as a sketch on Saturday Night Live with Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan, then evolved into a full motion cult film (A Night At The Roxbury), a joke dating back to the mid to late nineties gets resurrected by Pepsi where a re-enactment of the Butabi Brothers would head tilt bop to Haddaway – What Is Love – but done to random celebrities and people in day-to-day life. Note the cameo of Chris Kattan at the end, tongue in cheek acknowledging the head bop.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy are known for its racy and sexually encouraging advertisements that barely pass the censorship laws. This commercial that was broadcasted in 2006 was broadcasted once, in which Fox removed it from a second broadcast later on, claiming it was tasteless.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola are usually pretty good with their commercials, but they don’t make full usage out of The Simpsons, with only a secondary character saying a line. Still, if it involves The Simpsons, I’d watch it.
Volkswagen
Volkswagen has turned out to be the most popular, being released online before it has even been shown during Superbowl. A young kid fascinated being Darth Vader, walking around pretending he has ‘The Force’, not giving up until … yeah, you pretended to have the power too.
