NFL Super Bowl Commercials

National Football League history of Super Bowl advertising and TV ads

Every year the Super Bowl of Advertising happens to be the advertising of the Super Bowl. The NFL football championship game is the most watched single-day sporting event and highest rated television program in America. Televised to huge audiences and glowing public awareness, sponsor placements have become the Super Bowl's main sideshow event. If you think money rolls like anything at NFL Super Bowl sportsbooks and among sports betting and wagering fanatics battling over NFL Super Bowl football sports bets, odds, futures, and betting propositions, wait until you hear the kind that rolls out from advertisers during Super Bowl season. And why not? NFL Super Bowl football has a monstrous captive audience, which in fact reached a record 144.4 million US viewers in Super Bowl 2004 alone. In one way, this is a good thing. Advertisers try harder; ad agencies juice creativity at full tilt levels. NFL Super Bowl commercials, TV ads, and advertising try constantly to raise the bar in creativity and market appeal because everyone knows everybody' watching.

Already, for Super Bowl XXXIX 2005 in Jacksonville, the Fox television network is seeking $2.4 million to $2.5 million for a 30-second spot. Fox, which last aired the couch-potato perennial in 2002, is said to have already secured commitments from the usual suspects, namely PepsiCo Inc. and Anheuser-Busch Cos. Anheuser has purchased five minutes of ad time. According to Nielsen Media Research, Super Bowl 2004, broadcast on Viacom Inc.'s CBS, reached about 89.8 million viewers. A 30-second ad during Super Bowl last year sold for about $2.3 million on average, meaning Fox expects an increase of 4.4 percent to 8.7 percent this year.

At Super Bowl 2004, viewers heard talk about erections, witnessed a flatulent horse, and saw a wide-eyed urchin utter the truncated but suggestive phrase "Holy sh-". NFL Super Bowl football, sportsbooks, and sports betting and wagering fans alike cringed and tittered as two erectile-dysfunction drugs - Levitra, marketed by GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Bayer AG, and Cialis, marketed by Eli Lilly & Co. and Icos Corp. - filled NFL season 2004's Super Bowl with oddball allusions to the malady they treat. Super Bowl 2004's top advertisers were, not surprisingly, Pepsi, Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch), and Chevrolet.

In 2004, NFL Super Bowl commercials, TV ads, and advertising went for an average $2.25 to $2.3 million per 30-second spot. A bit sadly for advertisers, Janet Jackson's so-called Super Bowl 2004 "Boobgate" eclipsed the ads of the "Erectile Dysfunction Bowl". Come Monday, NFL Super Bowl football, sportsbooks, and sports betting and wagering fans seemed more preoccupied with Janet Jackson's breast exposure than with heartwarmers like Pepsi's Hendrix and Budweiser's Donkey Clydesdale.

Sans the MTV-produced Janet Jackson halftime mayem, at Super Bowl 2003, NFL Super Bowl commercials, TV ads, and advertising averaged at $2.1 million for a 30-second ad. NFL Super Bowl football, sportsbooks, and sports betting and wagering fans sat through dull ads for big bucks punctuated by some memorable hits and duds. Reebok's Office Linebacker scored as well as the Osbournes/Osmonds Pepsi ad, which capitalized on their MTV success. Dogdge hawked up the season's bug loser.

Since 1967, there have been 37 Super Bowl games with approximately 60 ad spots each, totaling more than 2,200 Super Bowl commercials to date. Many say that much of standout Super Bowl ads in the 1970s and 1980s had been classics to which Super Bowl commercials in these last two decades arguably can not seem to compare (read: the quality of Super Bowl advertising seems to be declining). Whether or not you agree, let us take a look at some of the best moments in NFL Super Bowl advertising.

All-time Best NFL Super Bowl Commercials & Advertising

If you do the rounds online on NFL Super Bowl commercials, TV ads, and advertising, you will find that just about everybody has the same favorite Super Bowl ads. Several reputable Web sites have conducted Best Super Bowl Ads surveys among NFL Super Bowl football, sportsbooks, and sports betting and wagering fans online, and seen similar results. Superbowl-ads.com, for instance, lists Apple, Coke, McDonald's, Noxema, Pepsi, and Xerox commercials as their all-time greatest Super Bowl ads. These Super Bowl commercials would be seen again topping the list in other such online surveys, but not exactly in the same manner. Here, we compare the results at three different big-named Web sites.

CBS.com's Best Super Bowl Ads & Commercials
1 - Coke - "Mean Joe Green" (1980)
2 - Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch) - "Butt Drinker" (2003)
3 - McDonalds - "Showdown" (1993)
4 - Apple - "1984" (1984)
5 - Tabasco - "Mosquito" (1998)
6 - Pepsi - "Cindy Crawford" (1992)

ESPN.com's Best Super Bowl Ads & Commercials
1 - Apple - "1984" (1984)
2 - Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch) - "Frogs" (1995)
3 - Pepsi - "Apartment 10G" (1987)
4 - Xerox - "Monks" (1977)
5 - McDonalds - "Showdown" (1993)
6 - Pepsi - "Diner" (1995)
*According to ESPN.com: The 1979 Mean Joe Green Coke commercial, which everyone agrees is a classic, did not actually debut during the Super Bowl. If it had, it would be pushing the Macintosh ad for the top spot on our list. Since it didn't, we'll have to settle for this excuse to remember the ad and get choked up all over again.

Forbes.com's Best Super Bowl Ads & Commercials
1 - Subway - Jared iinspires others (2001)
2 - Columbia Pictures - A Few Good Men (1993)
3 - Columbia Pictures - Groundhog Day (1993)
4 - Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch) - (Fired)
5 - Pepsi - Coke driver sneaks a Pepsi (1996)
6 - Pepsi - Shaq versus boy (1994)

Also See:

• NFL Football History
• NFL Super Bowl Wins 2004
• NFL Super Bowl Winners
• NFL Super Bowl Halftime Shows
• NFL Super Bowl History main

Super Bowl XXXIX at Jacksonville, Florida on February 6, 2005 culminates another pro football season for the NFL (National Football League). Score a touchdown in Super Bowl bets via reviewed and recommended NFL Super Bowl sportsbooks offering pro football betting propositions, odds, contests, and bonuses. Bet on favorite NFL teams like the New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts, and more. Move the odds to your favor with the best of NFL Super Bowl football history, winners, players, halftime shows, commercials, and advertising. Let the NFL Super Bowl football games begin!

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