Just Wonderin' About Super Bowl Week Advertising

Why is the week before the Super Bowl the time to offer advertisements for food products that can be whipped into quick recipes that give the appearance of having cooked more seriously?

You know the commercials ... mix Velveeta with salsa, microwave, stir, and ouila ... you've got ... um ... melted velveeta mixed with hot salsa!

This observation isn't as frivolous as it sounds. There are really 4 approaches to cooking for the Super Bowl:

1. Take your dining seriously, but don't cook seriously.
2. Take your dining seriously, and cook seriously.
3. Don't take your dining seriously, and don't cook seriously.
4. Don't take your dining seriously, but do cook seriously.

#1 is watching the Super Bowl at a fine restaurant. It's not my cup of tea, but I'm sure people do it.

#2 is serving a multi-course dinner at home during the game. That's OK too, although my experience in Super Bowl XXVIII was that some of the game was missed.

#3 is what most people do for most games - a bag of chips on the couch.

#4 is the approach of dissatisfied cooks - slave away in the kitchen and not have your food appreciated by the gang watching the game.

The funny thing about the advertisements in question is that they are really offering you choice 3 with an appearance of choice 4.

That's an odd marketing approach - why is it important on the Super Bowl to appear to be something that you're not?

My guess is that this appeals to people who feel compelled to cook something Super for a game that is supposed to be Super, but are realistic enough to know that most of the barbarians in front of the tube would just assume go to that place called "Eats" featured in the Brownsville Station song from the 70s.

I'm not sure how rational this behavior is absent of some external cause. Many "card sending holidays" were actually invented by the card companies. I know that the Super Bowl wasn't invented for this reason, but perhaps its prominence in American culture is a creature of Kellogs, Bush, Hormel & Kraft (sounds like a supergroup, doesn't it?).

Comments

[Danny L. McDaniel]

First, I think the 2007 Super Bowl was one of the best of all-time. This year it looked like a real football game, nothing beats rain and mud, except cold and snow!

Second, the commericals overall weren't that great. I was expecting something alot better. This year they seemed like they were trying to be funny without being such. Sometimes it looked as if they were pushing it too hard - though some of the Coke ads were pretty good.

Third, if I never see another Super Bowl halftime show I will die a happy man. I think the NFL should just get a local high school or college matching band to play the gig. It is to glittry, showy, and never hits the mark. After all it is the last football game of the season. The Super Bowl has been over done for 20 plus years now, and should be simiplifed and scaled backed.

Danny L. McDaniel
Lafayette, Indiana

[Dave]

I liked the commercial about the robot that got fired for dropping a bolt.

I can't give a definitive cite, but my understanding is that Super Bowl halftime shows are done by the same types that do entertainment for corporate shareholder meetings and junkets. So, what you're getting is some 30-something trophy wife's idea of what entertainment would be like if she'd spent more time practicing her lines and less time ... well ... you know.

Having said that, and not being a Prince fan, I thought his show was pretty good.