Super Bowl Ads: What a Waste!

In an article by the American Marketing Association, they discussed how effective super bowl ads are. Turns out these ads are not all that effective after all. Much effort is wasted on creating ads to be incredibly funny or heartwarming and not being as persuasive as advertisements may need to be. One example that comes to mind it the puppymonkeybaby ad. I honestly could not recall what brand the advertisement was for even five minutes after I saw the ad. Same goes when I see an advertisement that tugs on my heartstrings, I get so invested in the heartfeltness of the ad that I can never remember what was actually being advertised.

Throughout the year, marketers and advertisers spend incredible amounts of money and countless hours creating ads meant to really persuade consumers to buy their products, services, or ideas. Advertisements are meant to be entertaining but more importantly meant to create a desire for a brand in consumers. During the super bowl, this rule about persuading consumers seems to be thrown out the window. The super bowl is a huge event in the U.S. and Super Bowl 50 averaged 111.9 million viewers this year. With this amount of viewers, it is no wonder the commercial spots are incredibly expensive. Due to the large amount of viewers and high cost of advertisement spaces it is no wonder that marketers are constantly competing to make the funniest or best ads. The goal does a complete 180. Instead of competing for business, marketers are competing for laughs.

Sometimes marketers really do hit the mark with creating entertaining ads that really make a brand stick in your head, however when entertainment is the goal over persuasion, this is hardly ever the case. Here are a few more of my favorite ads!