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Mr. Quiggly wins the race
Millions of dollars are shelled out each year to sell cars, beverages, chips, and movies during football's biggest game, with $3.5 million the going rate, according to The Associated Press, for this year's 30-second spots. That is a big business opportunity that is nothing to wag the tail or shake the rattle at – dogs and babies having taken center stage in the 2012 commercials.
The main corporate objective with these prime-time advertisements is to get noticed above the competition, to entertain with enough dancing dogs – Mr. Quiggly, moonwalking, enough said – and talking babies to accomplish this task, and to, hopefully, get consumers to spend money on their product. This comic relief is needed, especially in a time when economic tensions are high and society is not so free with their money.
However, this year, more so than any other year in recent memory, seems to have found a handful of commercials that really had something important to say.
Optimism, hope and renewal
Forgetting the apocalyptic Chevrolet ad, which symbolized, to some, the partisan politics and negative debate speeches and campaigns that are dominating the public consciousness at the moment, Super Bowl advertisements had moments of greatness beyond entertainment.
Yes, there were Doritos-bribing dogs, slingshot babies, and peeing kids, but there were also ads from Budweiser titled "Return of the King" and "Eternal Optimism" that took moments from the past, where hope and happiness was either restored or exemplified, in an effort to have the viewer experience these feelings for themselves.
It worked.
Using nostalgia is a classic, American way to get a message across in a way that unites the viewer. These collective experiences, shared and related over generations, remind that even in hard times, good times will come again.
And there was Clint Eastwood.
Pro-American sentiment and rescue dogs
For all the political messaging that some want to read into the "Halftime in America" spot, Chrysler subtly put across a pro-American message that did not originate more from one side of the aisle than the other. Again, iconic, American images simply stated an idea of optimism, hope and renewal, without regard for political affiliation. Audiences rose above the din to take notice – the mark of a good ad. It cannot go unnoticed that the title is reminiscent of the "It's Morning Again in America" campaign commercial used by Ronald Reagan from the 1984 presidential election, adding to the complexity that so many are talking about.
This year's commercials had something to say. Case in point: Weego, the beer-bottle-fetching Bud Light dog that everyone wants to have around. Here is a for-profit corporation shining the spotlight on the unique personalities that endear rescue dogs to their owners so exceptionally, while still managing to brand themselves and sell their product. A corporation with a heart, being responsible is something not often seen that more businesses could take a page from.
Super Bowl ads are not the time to espouse political views and divide and conquer the populace for the sake of votes, but can be used instead to bring its large viewership together with effective messaging that renews the mind and spirit, while still practicing the type of Capitalism that America is built on.
