The Super Bowl has come and gone and I recognize that any event over a week old is ancient history. But let’s hit the pause button and spend a moment deconstructing this monstrous extravaganza.
The Super Bowl has become a monolithic event which absorbs the nation’s attention as well as the culture’s central traits. There are usually about 100 million viewers who tune in to watch this event whether to enjoy the game, the television commercials or the half-time show. Let’s break down the event into segments.
- The game: This year’s Super Bowl pitted the San Francisco 49ers against the defending champion juggernaut known as the Kansas City Chiefs. Brock Purdy was both likable and valiant in his efforts to face Kansas City, but there was inevitability to the outcome and the game ended with Patrick Mahomes lifting the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the second year in a row. The game more or less lived up the all the hype and diehard football fans were not disappointed.
- The television commercials: This is where things get interesting. Approximately 50% of the viewing audience tunes in to the Super Bowl to watch the ads. The commercial airtime for a 30-second spot is $7 million and that does not include production costs or salaries to the actors. The cost of putting a Super Bowl television ad together will usually total anywhere between $15 million to $50 million.
- The celebrity talent must do about two days of actual work and will receive anywhere from $1 million to $10 million. Ben Affleck received $10 million for his Dunkin ad this year which also included Matt Damon and Tom Brady. Other celebrities who appeared in the Super Bowl ads including Jennifer Aniston, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wayne Gretsky, Kate McKinnon, Tina Fey, and David Beckham, Have I missed anyone? I’m sure I have but you get the point.
- Major revenue, major talent, and major effort goes into these ads and the result is often entertaining. But the real surprise this year was the number of religious ads. We had ads for Jesus, ads for Scientology and ads sanctioning hate against Judaism. I was stunned to see the photos used by the Jesus ads. They all had the tone, lighting and dramatic despair seen in the photographs of Gregory Crewdson. You know these ads worked because I found myself watching them all rather than rushing to the kitchen to refill my coffee.
- The half-time show: This year we were treated to the music and the gyrations of Usher, who even did some skating for us. I must admit I’m not overly familiar with any of his music, but I did enjoy the way Ludacris made a great effort to mimic the moves of Usher as they danced together. And, of course, the manner in which Usher suddenly stripped off his shirt at the end reminded me of the famous “Nipplegate” incident when Justin Timberlake accidentally ripped off the top of Janet Jackson’s outfit during their Super Bowl XXXVIII half-time show.
- Taylor Swift: You know the Super Bowl has taken on aspects of a black hole when the likes of Taylor Swift gets absorbed. Young Ms. Swift dates Travis Kelce of the KC Chiefs and when the players are asked about the presence of Taylor Swift, they all say it’s helping to introduce football to young girls. I have no doubt this is true.
- Mass shooting at the KC Chiefs post game celebration. One million people joined the Chiefs when they returned home to Kansas City for the celebration parade. This parade concluded with a shooting which killed one and injured 20. An unfitting conclusion to a fun event.
When an event gets as big as the Super Bowl, it does act monolithic, attracting, absorbing and expressing the entire culture. Stanley Kubrick used the black monolith at the beginning of “2001, A Space Odyssey” to symbolize the way mankind takes a leap into the next level of evolution. The monolith that the Super Bowl spectacle has become provides us with a chance for inspiration, entertainment and absorption. I doubt however that it’s a sign of mankind’s evolution.
We were all quickly brought back to Earth by the shooting spree that came next. We live in a land that gives us heroes in the form of football players, celebrities, pop singers and even commercials. Unfortunately, our culture also contains a sinister, violent undercurrent that swims underneath. Long gone are the days that the only thing we had to worry about was another “Nipplegate” incident. Now we have to think about Uzis in the hands of angry malcontents.