So just in case you hadn't noticed (ahem), yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday; not only the climax of the football season, but apparently also the second largest day for food consumption in the USA after Thanksgiving, and the day when companies are prepared to fork out as much as $4 million for a 30 second advertising spot. With viewing figures of over 110 million in recent years, it's not surprising that the Super Bowl commercial spots command such a premium price. Getting it right can give a huge boost to a brand - think of the 'Wassup' Budweiser frogs - and getting it wrong means weeks and weeks of re-runs, media commentary and social media mentions; not ideal but not always a bad thing either...
After all the build up last week - and yes I'm still talking about the commercials rather than the football, they even air commercials for the commercials - I was expecting to see some creative advertising. Unfortunately I'd have to agree with Stuart Elliott from the New York Times that "the commercials that CBS broadcast nationally during the game were, by and large, disappointing". And, disappointingly, from a sustainability perspective, the only advert that even touched on the subject was the controversial Soda Stream creation from ad man turned consumer and social advocate Alex Bogusky.
It was touch and go as to whether or not the Soda Stream advert would even be aired as it showed "denigration of the bottled drinks market" and would upset Pepsi and Coca Cola who are major sponsors of the game. In the end, it was agreed that a 'gentler ad' that doesn't mention any specific soft drink brands. This is not the first time that this advert has caused controversy, in fact, it has even been banned in the UK. However, as we've seen, trying to prevent these adverts being seen can actually do more harm than good - the unaired version of the commercial has already clocked up nearly 4 million views on You Tube and counting...
I would like to say that Soda Stream's commercial is a sign of things to come - Super Bowl Commercials will start to portray meaningful, values-led messages, rather than meaningless stunts and celebrity appearances; however, I don't think we're there yet. Nevertheless, it is good to see a brand using a sustainability message to differentiate itself from its competitors.
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