When asked if the Super Bowl ads have any effect on the amount of viewers watching the game, Charles Edward Winton, junior, answered: “Yeah, they do. They are the main reason I watch the Super Bowl.” Ever since the ‘70s, these ads are as important to the Super Bowl experience as the sport itself. Their airing has become a preserved, respected, and beloved tradition. On the 50th anniversary of the Super Bowl, what does HR think about the trademark commercials?
Were the ads good? “Not as good as last year, but there were some good ones,” said Winton. He didn’t seem overall impressed with their quality. He wasn’t the only one. “I didn’t watch all of them, I got bored” said Elena Opp, freshman. “I thought they were trying too hard, were too deep and touching, and I just wanted it to be funny,” said Opp. That is not to say that the ads were generally viewed as bad – Brent Oberg, TV production teacher, said: “They were a pretty good bunch, but last year had the best Super Bowl commercial ever, a boy in a Darth Vader costume – nothing beats that!”.
As usual, some ads are more loved than the others. Winton confessed: “I’m a gamer, so I really liked the Pokemon one, but objectively the best one was the T-Mobile Steve Harvey one.” Opp said, referring to the Hyundai “First Date” commercial, “My favorite was the Kevin Hart one.” She was in tune with the rest of the country. According to the 28th annual USA TODAY Ad Meter, the most appreciated ad was the “First Date”. It had an average score of 6.91 out of 10. Oberg said that his favorite was also the Kevin Hart one, but had different opinions on other ones. For example, when asked about the Mtn Dew “Puppy Monkey Baby” commercial,he said: “Puppy Monkey Baby was a bad concept in animation. It’s 2016, kids do better than that on a laptop.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2c2mPpvcpw
VideoCo: youtube.com
According to fortune.com’s “This is how much a 2016 Super Bowl ad costs” article from August 6, 2015, the cost of this year’s average 30 second Super Bowl ad was $5 million – an 11% increase that broadcaster CBS applied to last year’s NBC $4.5 million price. “They’re not worth that” said Opp. It is a huge increase in a very short amount of time, when compared to the $4 million price per 30 second ad reported by forbes.com in 2014. Winton said “It’s a good price considering the amount of people watching the Super Bowl, but it is a ridiculous price”. In support to Winston’s statement comes forbes.com’s “Yes, a Super Bowl ad is really worth $4 million” article from January 29, 2015, where it is stated that several studies have proven that 50% of the Super Bowl audience tunes in just to watch the ads.
HR seems to think previous Super Bowl ads were better. They even have thought of ways to improve it. “They should do something related to last year, a reference to that.” said Winton. Still, the ads didn’t ruin anything, as Opp said “The Super Bowl made up for the commercials”.
Vlaicu Motrescu, Staff Reporter
