On the Super Bowl: Ads No Longer Have Words
Monday, February 2, 2009
We've officially reached the point where commercials don't feature words anymore. At least that's what I learned while watching the Super Bowl on Sunday night. The majority of the national ads featured less than 25 words. Many of them featured no words at all. This is likely because global corporations want their commercials to be as accessible as possible, want to use them on multiple digital platforms, and want them to ensure they translate across national boundaries.
So it might make business sense. But in an era when many of the most intelligent consumers are skipping commercials already, are they really going to be engaged by commercials that don't feature words? Put another way, this is the golden age of complicated television shows. How effective can advertisements be if they're infinitely less intelligent than the television shows themselves?
Anyway, just something I'm wondering about. On to other things that struck me about the game.
1. Right after Harrison scored on his interception return, I actually thought, that was a great play but now we're never going to hear the end of it. That's my issue with the Super Bowl--you can't even enjoy big plays because the hyperbole machine is so overwhelming. I love the game, but there's too much of an effort to make this game seem more important than every other game this year. Yeah, big plays happen but you can't even enjoy them in the Super Bowl because you know ESPN is going to run them into the ground for the next three weeks/years.
It's why I now watch zero pre or post-game television coverage of the game. I know what happened, I just watched it. I don't need to have someone salivating over the particulars. (I'm aware of the irony of me writing about the game, but text isn't so overwhelming. The written word still gives you a chance to think; whereas television replays are all about telling you what you should already think. To me that's a big difference. There can be nuance there. Room for thought to spiral in unanticipated directions. Not so with ESPN's analysis.)
2. I don't talk much about schemes because I'm not really an x's and o's guy. Having said that, how brilliant was the play design that put Larry Fitzgerald in the slot for the final Cardinals touchdown? Similarly, how inexcusable was the play of the Steelers safeties on this play?
Both safeties lined up 25 yards from the line of scrimmage. In theory there should be no way for anyone to get behind them. At the snap they both went wide and attempted to double the outside receivers leaving no one in the center of the field. With under three minutes to play the Cardinals isolated their best player in the center of the field with man coverage.
How did the Steelers' safeties not recognize the danger here? Fitzgerald made his catch, turned, and was gone.
This was when I really wanted Madden to explain what happened and NBC blew it. Nothing. This was probably the greatest play design of the game, and NBC didn't even explain why it worked so flawlessly. Pathetic.
3. Graham N. writes:
"So I'm watching the Super Bowl right now, and John Madden just analyzed a Steelers formation where 4 receivers line up on one side of the ball and draw the coverage, leaving the one receiver on the other side in one-on-one coverage. Sound familiar? James Van Der Beek's Oop-de-oop lives. Is Mike Tomlin's obvious analysis of Varsity Blues the key to the Steelers' success?"
Genius, pure genius.
How much would you have died if John Madden had said, "Now in Varsity Blues, Billy Bob, see, he got into the open field and..."
4. Why was there no discussion about the Steelers taking an intentional safety late in the fourth quarter? Isn't this the right play if you don't convert the first down? Now the Steelers got a safety regardless, but with two minutes left in the game and a six-point lead wouldn't you rather have a free kick from the 20 and a four-point lead than punt from inside your 1 with a six point lead? I would.
Usually Michaels is pretty good about nailing things like this. On Sunday, not so much.
5. Sooner or later the NFL's weird replay rules are going to blowup in a big game. If you have two successful challenges, like the Cardinals did, then you're rewarded a third challenge. But you're limited to three challenges in a game. Why?
Say you make three successful challenges and then another egregious error occurs. You can't challenge it. This is such an arbitrary system. Why not make a rule that every time you're correct on a challenge you get to keep that challenge? Or say that if you're correct on the third challenge as well you get rewarded another challenge?
If the goal of the rule is to limit excessive challenges, the rule would still be valid. You'd only be able to challenge more than three times if you'd been correct on the previous challenges. Or why not penalize incorrect challenges since those are the ones that actually impact the flow of the game more? Not a harsh penalty, but, maybe, five yards or so.
As is this system is set up to fail.
6. How old does Cuba Gooding, Jr. look? He reminds me of one of those African dictators who looks like he's 90 when he's still 40. Why is he so stressed?
It got so bad Colts running back Joseph Addai was sitting at home and he thought, "Man, dude looks rough."
7. Why wasn't the final Warner fumble reviewed? Was it? I don't agree with the NFL taking control of all challenges inside the final two minutes. And I especially don't agree when there are plays that deserve to be looked at and aren't. Again, it's arbitrary.
8. How unbelievable is Larry Fitzgerald? His fourth quarter was as dominant of a receiving performance as we've seen in a long time. What's scary is how much better can he get? He's still only 25.
Also, how did Al Michaels not say, "Larry Fitzgerald is Rod Tidwell," after the first touchdown catch. Do you think there was any part of Fitzgerald that wanted to stay laying down on the ground and pretend to be knocked out?
9. Obama said he loved Tebow. What are the odds that Tebow ends up a Senator or Governor before his life is over? Even? Would you bet against this? Do you have any doubt that he could be elected in Florida?
What if Obama kicked Biden to the curb and made Tebow his running mate. Even though Tebow wasn't eligible to be Vice-President.
10. Anyone else find themselves thinking, Byron Leftwich or Matt Leinart are going to get Super Bowl rings? Back-up quarterbacks should have to give their rings to starting quarterbacks who never got one.
Also, is there any doubt Leinart will wear the ring out to the bars and use it to pick up chicks?
11. Did anyone else notice Santonio Holmes celebrating after his big catch that gave the Steelers a first and goal? There's under fifty seconds to play and after he gets tackled he gets up and struts into the end zone while still carrying the football. I really wish the clock had been running on this play and the Steelers had to scramble to get the ball downed. Just unbelievable.
It's one thing to celebrate. But when you celebrate with the ball the refs can't get the ball respotted. You know he would have panicked too, if they'd been rushing and needed the ball. He would have tossed it out of the back of the end zone and the refs would have been pushing the media members away to grab the ball.
12. Can Big Ben singlehandedly bring the goatee back? I'm afraid so. To be fair Pittsburgh is probably the only place on earth where the goatee is still cool. They're perpetually fifteen years behind everyone else. The Macarena is huge right now in downtown Pittsburgh.
13. How does no one talk about Mike Tomlin's weird jumping celebrations where he doesn't pull his hands out of his pockets? Does he have the coldest hands on earth? Watch him next season after big plays, he's like a pogo stick, leaping around, without using his hands. It's like he doesn't have arms.
14. Watching Brenda Warner with blond hair is even more uncomfortable than watching Brenda Warner with a flat-top.
15. I hate Steelers fans. The only thing that makes me unhappy about this outcome is that Steelers fans are happy. That and those damn terrible towels. Labels: super bowl claynation super bowl ads no longer have words clay travis hating steelers fans brenda warner mike tomlin armless celebrations
Posted by Clay Travis at 2:07 PM
 
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C'lay, totally agree on the safety. At the party I was at, we actually discussed that if they didn't get the first down, they absolutely had to take the safety. Also, one of my friends blasted Holmes for getting up and celebrating after that catch. Nice of him to be concerned about making a spectacle of himself instead of letting the refs spot the ball so his team could run a play.
I'm in complete agreement on Steelers fans. I had to sit next to one at the Titans playoff game (remember the Joe Nedney roughing the kicker penalty in OT?) and he made everyone's lives miserable. The sullen look on his face after the loss made it all worthwhile, though.
I thought Warner did a great job of looking off of Fitzgerald on the long TD. Harrison was supposed to drop back to be in position to make a play, but Warner looked to his left and Harrison followed. If he had stayed in his area, Harrison may have been able to tackle Fitzgerald before he had a chance to split the safetys. As it was, the safetys must have underestimated how fast Fitzgerald is in order to both take such poor angles.