The Mystery of Peter Answers

The Super Bowl is the biggest televised sporting event of the year so it should come as no surprise that advertising on the Super Bowl is big business. Huge business in fact. For a lot of people watching the Super Bowl is not about watching football it is about watching the Super Bowl Commercials, as crazy as that seems. The questions have not started coming in yet but they will be soon, and people will be asking Peter Answers, “What Will Be The Best Super Bowl Ad of 2009?”

Before Peter offers his prognostication let’s go through some history.

According to this chart the first Super Bowl ads ran in 1967 at a price of $40,000 for a 30 second ad slot (about $245,000 in today’s money). For a 30 second commercial that still seems like a lot to Peteranswers! The price increased every year until 2007, the last year I have data for, where a 30 second commercial went for $2.6 million! And remember, that doesn’t include the cost of making the ad. These companies are spending bookoo dollars on these product placements.

Famous Super Bowl Commercials

Here are some of the more famous Super Bowl ads in history:

• 1973 – The first famous Super Bowl commercial was for Noxzema featuring legendary New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath.
• 1980 – A spot for Coca-Cola featuring Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro defensive lineman “Mean Joe” Greene, who is offered a Coca-Cola by a young fan and tosses the kid his game-worn jersey as repayment. However, according to ESPN, this ad never debuted during the Super Bowl.
• 1984 – Perhaps the most renowned Super Bowl ad ever, this ad for Apple’s Macintosh followed a 1984 theme. Directed by Ridley Scott, the ad featured a woman wearing track-and-field clothing sprinting into a large auditorium and hurling a large hammer into a screen right before security guards can subdue her. On the screen was a large Big Brother-type of face speaking to a massive assembly of drone-like people. His last words were “We shall prevail,” before the screen explodes and leaves the audience enraptured in gazing at the spectacle. The ad ran just one more time on television, perhaps compounding its renown.
• 1993 – In perhaps his most famous ad, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird play a game of HORSE for a McDonald’s Big Mac and fries. The game is made more interesting due to the increasing complex set of obstacles set for both players.
• One of the most famous Super Bowl ad campaigns has been the “I’m Going to Disney World!” ads for the past 20 years.

Sleaziest Super Bowl Commercials of All Time

Here are some of the sleaziest Super Bowl ads in history:

• 2005 – GoDaddy.com “Proceedings”: One year after Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction, “Go Daddy Girl” Nikki Cappelli appears before a shocked Congress, as her tank top strap keeps breaking. One politician has to reach for his oxygen.
• 2003 – Budweiser “Upside Down Clown”: A man in an inverted clown suit walks in a bar, orders a beer and drinks it through a hole in the costume’s crotch. To the bar patrons (and viewers at home) he appears to be pouring the beverage into his rectum. Then he orders a hot dog.
• 2004 – Bud Light “Sleigh”: A man and woman are riding in a Hansom cab. When the man lights a candle for mood, the horse lifts its tail and farts, torching the girlfriend. In a year where sleazy ads were scrutinized by critics, this was one was almost always mentioned first.

What Will Be The Best Super Bowl Ad of 2009?

This year the winner will not be a sleazy ad but it will still be one by Budweiser, who has a history of making good Super Bowl Commercials.

And that is Peter’s Answer!