The Super Bowl: Not a Sporting Event, But a PR Extravaganza

The battle has been fought. Athletes' bodies were pushed to their physical limits and emotions were at an all time high. The Colts came to victory. Will their conquest be remembered? Perhaps by the Colts fans, but the majority of people will remember the commercials. The Super Bowl whose logo is at the left is arguably America’s biggest sporting events, and it is popular all over the world. This year’s game was broadcasted in twelve languages and "seen in 232 countries and territories and viewed by an estimated 1 billion people," according to CBS News. Along with being seen by many people, "the NFL's Super Bowl tops Forbes' first list of the world's most valuable sporting events brands." With all of the esteem the Super Bowl has acquired, it creates a public relations professional’s dream, and everyone ranging from sports franchises to charities are partaking in the dream.

It is no secret that the commercials aired during the Super Bowl have become a phenomenon. The price tag attached to a thirty second spot reached 2.6 million dollars this year. Peter Hartlaub at the San Francisco Chronicle argues “the rise in publicity for Super Bowl ads… are no accident.” The purpose of increasing the publicity for the ads is to gain the attention of the various audiences such as females who traditionally would not watch the Super Bowl. A poll conducted by Harris Interactive uncovered that more women than men were going to watch the game for the ads, with twenty-seven percent of women saying they were tunning in just for the commercials. This result is not exclusive to women; fifty-six percent of adults said they would be viewing the game equally if not more for the ads than the game.

Although the Harris Interactive poll is new, the advertising agencies were already aware of the buzz about the advertisements. They have been making their ads in conjunction with the interest levels. In the radio story “Super Bowl Ads: Still a High Stakes Game,” Chris Arnold claims there is suspicion companies such as GoDaddy.com "submit ads that will be rejects." On GoDaddy's website, the company advertises the rejected commercials such as this basic instinct spot to the right as the rejected Super Bowl commercials. The company benefits from these incidents because it receive news coverage and publicity from being the bad ad that was not allowed to be aired. This is a good example of the old saying that there is no such thing as bad publicity. At the end of the day, more people knew the company existed than before the Super Bowl.

In the midst of this power struggle among advertising agencies, there are some organizations that benefit from the Super Bowl without having to spend millions of dollars on commercials. These organizations are the non-profit groups whose causes are adopted by the sports franchises or various companies. Whether the intentions of the franchises are to benefit the charities or get another positive remark in a news article, the charity wins support and awareness for their cause. There were many charity events leading up to this year’s Super Bowl game. The city of Chicago was a participant in the "Weekend of Champions" held by the Otis Wilson Foundation. Following in his city’s footsteps, Chicago Bears’ wide receiver Bernard Berrian teamed up with Reserve nightclub and choreographed an end zone dance. If Berrian did the dance then the Reserve owners would have donated five thousand dollars to any charity Berrian wanted. The franchises and players are not alone when it comes to doing philanthropic work through the outlets the Super Bowl attracts. Cadillac held its fifth annual Super Bowl Grand Prix where celebrities and athletes raced special go-karts. Pictured here is second place winner, Nick Lachey.The winner was given ten thousand dollars to donate to a charity, seconds place got five thousand, and third place received three thousand five hundred.

It would be pleasant to assume that all of these companies were contributing to charities solely because they are passionate about the causes. But it is impossible to ignore the fact that the companies receive another piece of publicity from the event. Either way a significant amount of money is given to a good cause. If the real reasons behind the donations are to gain more attention then it is just another instance where the Super Bowl has become a media meat market instead of America’s finest football game. Although it is vital to remember the main reason for this event, the teams and players fighting to become chamopins.