{"id":4169,"date":"2013-02-28T16:05:54","date_gmt":"2013-02-28T22:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/?p=4169"},"modified":"2018-03-18T13:30:45","modified_gmt":"2018-03-18T18:30:45","slug":"bowled-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2013\/02\/bowled-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Bowled Over"},"content":{"rendered":"

February flies by, and not just because it’s a couple of days shorter than other months. Here in Arkansas the weather at the end of the month is worse than the beginning, marked by the Super Bowl on Sunday the 3rd. Like the other 49 states, prit’ near all of us watch the game, or at least had the set on while we went about our Sunday evening usuals.<\/p>\n

\"First
First lady Betty Ford tosses football to President Gerald Ford at Bethesda Naval Hospital in October 1974, following her surgery for breast cancer.
Credit Ford Presidential Library<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like other households with no geographic interest in either Baltimore’s Ravens or San Francisco’s 49ers, we enjoyed the commercials as much the game. Super Bowl ads are the most expensive, so they are the most rigorously produced. We viewers try to figure out where the money went on the bad ones, and often marvel at the clever spots.<\/p>\n

Many ads will be shown repeatedly until the next Super Bowl, as advertisers attempt to justify their marketing costs. Every year, though, some ads may not be rebroadcast, not because they’re ineffective or offensive but because they’re sponsored sermons, not product promotions, at least directly. For example, the most talked-about one from 2012 was Detroit’s Valentine from Chrysler<\/a>, narrated by Clint Eastwood.<\/p>\n

As this year’s game droned on — a good long fight, Ravens 34-31, including the electrical failure dimming the stands in the third quarter — a common commercial theme arose: The America That Once Was. The common message was, America Can Be That Way Again. The common sense comprised, Who Ya Foolin’?<\/p>\n

No Monday morning quarterback — until Mad Men<\/em> returns to AMC on Sunday nights in April — I hesitated columning about this. Then last week a stats-driven critique was published by a Michigan news media group. The article, “Ram’s ‘Farmer’ Super Bowl Ad Tops 2013 Ad Blitz; Three Auto Brands Make List<\/a>,” show the issue remained lively.<\/p>\n

Three spots stood out.<\/p>\n

I.<\/strong> Oprah Winfrey starred in another Super Bowl ad. She had played David Letterman’s foil for potato chips in 2007<\/a> then in 2010<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a two-minute spot sponsored by Jeep (rather than selling Jeep vehicles), “Jeep: America Will Be Whole Again<\/a>,” Winfrey spoke for military families who pray for their service member to come home soon, and healthy.<\/p>\n