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An Extremely Brief History of Superbowl Commercials

2010-01-29 · Hank, Mickeleh · watch on YouTube · History & curiosities · curiosity idea

Hank runs through Super Bowl ad history from 1967 to 2010, arguing that rising ad spending turned the commercials into a spectacle people watch for their own sake, a cultural oddity worth studying; he ends by inviting viewers to vote for 2010's best ads on YouTube.

What is said

00:00:00 — Announcer intro; since the first Super Bowl (1967) ad spending soared and the ads became a spectacle people watch for themselves, worth studying

  • ★★★ Hank argues that as Super Bowl ad spending soared, advertisers had to justify it, so the ads became a spectacle in themselves; people enjoying ads more than the game is a cultural nexus worth studying. (hedged) — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank says the first Super Bowl aired in 1967 and that it has since become America's most watched yearly event. — 00:00:00 · United States

00:00:36 — Chronology of landmark Super Bowl ads: Noxzema 1973, Mean Joe Greene 1980, Apple 1984 and Lemmings 1985, Bud Bowl 1989, Fred Astaire 1997, dot-com ads 2000, 3D ads 2009

  • ★★ Hank says the first high-profile Super Bowl ad aired in 1973: Farrah Fawcett spreading Noxzema on quarterback Joe Namath's face, setting a bar for racy ads later outdone by GoDaddy. (playful) — 00:00:36
  • ★★ Hank says that in 1980 Mean Joe Greene tossed his jersey to a boy for a Coca-Cola, an ad so popular it became the only one ever to get a full-length movie. — 00:00:36
  • ★★ Hank says Apple's 1984 ad channelled Orwell's 1984 to cast IBM as Big Brother, which he finds senseless in hindsight, yet it raised the bar for Super Bowl ads. — 00:00:36
  • ★★ Hank says Apple's 1985 ad showing IBM users as lemmings walking to their deaths flopped and was instrumental in getting Steve Jobs fired. (playful) — 00:01:17
  • ★★ Hank says Budweiser started the Bud Bowl, a miniature beer-based Super Bowl, in 1989. — 00:01:17
  • ★ Hank remembers loving the Bud Bowl as a kid, which makes him question whether it was a good marketing strategy for an alcoholic beverage. (playful) — 00:01:17
  • ★ Hank says a 1997 ad showed the late Fred Astaire dancing with a Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner. (playful) — 00:01:17
  • ★★ Hank says that in 2000 more than a dozen dot-com companies spent their funding on 30-second spots costing over $2 million, and most no longer exist. — 00:01:46
  • ★★ Hank says the bankruptcy of Epidemic.com, which paid people to email ads to their friends, is a main reason he believes people are not jerks. (playful) — 00:01:46
  • ★★ Hank says the first 3D television commercials debuted at the 2009 Super Bowl, with agencies handing out 3D glasses at bars. — 00:01:46

00:02:15 — 2010: ad prices fall for the first time in almost 40 years; vote for the best 2010 Super Bowl ads on YouTube; announcer sign-off

  • ★★ Hank says that in 2010, for the first time in almost 40 years, the cost of a Super Bowl ad is dropping. — 00:02:15
  • ★★ Hank suggests the falling price reflects television weakening and YouTube rising, then immediately allows that it possibly does not. (playful) (hedged) — 00:02:15 · YouTube
  • ★★ Hank invites viewers to use YouTube to help decide the best Super Bowl ads of 2010 by clicking and choosing a favourite. — 00:02:15 · YouTube

Humor (significant)

  • After searching for 'the word we're looking for' about the 1984 ad, Hank turns to Apple's 1985 Lemmings ad. — 00:01:17 > «Apple went from epic to epic fail»
  • Hank describes the 1997 ad that used the late Fred Astaire dancing with a vacuum cleaner. — 00:01:17 > «zombie Fred Astaire, we're assuming because he was dead, did a dance with a dirt devil vacuum cleaner»
  • Epidemic.com paid people to email advertisements to their friends, and went bankrupt. — 00:01:46 > «The bankruptcy of this company is one of the primary reasons that I believe, deep down in my heart, that people are not jerks.»

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