Gone Too Far
Year
after year thousands of us Super Bowl watchers tune in to one of the most
watched events of the year. Some are there for the game while others come for
the commercials. The Super Bowl commercials have been something of a tradition
for years. Companies throw their best creative juices into these commercials.
Not to mention pay a pretty penny for having them run. This year industries
paid four million dollars for just a 30 second slot.
In
recent years the big advertising deal is to come up with the most racy
commercial possible so that people “remember” it. For example in 2011 Kate
Upton stared in a Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr. commercial that showed everything from
extreme cleavage to a barley covered booty. The ad was approximately a minute
long, but definitely got across the “sex sells” message.
Hardee’s
isn’t the only company to put out “sexy” ads. Go Daddy has been known for its
scandalous ads for years. This year’s commercial combining the gorgeous girl
and geeky guy in a lip-locked embrace. They went so far as to make a TV version
of the commercial and one a little more provocative that could be viewed on
their website.
I
have to admit that, while I may not be a fan of the “sexy” ads, they work. The
girls strutting around in tiny bikinis washing cars, or ravenously eating a
burger makes women feel more open to the idea that eating a massive burger is
in some way appealing to the opposite sex. While guys eat there mostly
following a certain part of the anatomy. In addition, the Go Daddy ads get
hundreds of hits off of their ads because they have beautiful girls prancing
around and they give little information about their company. This leads to
hundreds if not thousands of people visiting their website just to check it
out, and see what they are all about. This year they really did a number to
those hits by including the “unrated” version on their web page. Doubling the
amount of people that visited and probably signed up for a website.
The
old adage sex sells is obviously true. We see it every year. While the United
States does have some censorship rules and regulations they are getting tested
every year. I’m glad that the regulations are still in place as they attempt to
keep the airways clean. They help keep the Super Bowl and other public
television “family friendly”.
