Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you are probably well aware that the Super Bowl is this Sunday. Even though I know absolutely nothing about sports, especially football, everyone around me, I found out that the Super Bowl is this Sunday just a couple days ago from social media and my physics teacher who mentioned it in class while trying to solve a word problem. I knew the 49ers were playing in the Superbowl, but I had to look up online who they were playing, which are the Kansas City Chiefs (a team that I did not know even existed) in case you did not know. My family has never been big sports people, but when I was younger we would still watch the Super Bowl together, mainly for the ads. As I got older and technology advanced, we would just record the Super Bowl on our TV, and watch it a couple hours later skipping the actual football game and fast-forwarding to the commercials. Even though a majority of Americans would consider themselves to be sport-enthusiasts, even people who have no interest in football would watch the Super Bowl because of their famous commercials. When I was younger, I remember most of these commercials being based around comedy and wit, but now it is becoming more common for ads to deliver an important message to viewers. Whether this message is about social justice, LGBTQ rights, climate change, politics, etc., companies are trying to initiate change.
I think this shift in commercials shown during the Super Bowl is reflective of our society as a whole. A decade ago, people were not as passionate about issues such as climate change, politics, animal rights, etc. since there was no urgency surrounding them. Everything seemed fine, and humans are guilty of inaction unless consequences are immediate and directly affects them. Now that time has passed, because we have not been paying enough attention, consequences from these issues are no longer in the future, but rather in the present. People are now more open to making changes in their lifestyle or behavior, if they know it will make a positive impact. After the whole Colin Kaepernick taking a knee controversy, I feel like Super Bowl ads have been more controversial than ever before. Companies are shifting away from happy fun commercials to ones that evoke an emotional response from viewers.
After doing some searching online, I was not surprised to find out that the numbers of viewers of the Super Bowl have been on the decline. I don’t remember the last time my family and I have watched the Super Bowl, and now we don’t even have an interest in watching the commercials. Additionally people are not as big brand-snobs as they were a few years ago. People also may feel like commercials that are trying to evoke change are being constantly forced in their face, and look for other forms of entertainment instead that make them feel good. This makes me wonder if the Super Bowl will be as big of an event within the coming decades, as more people begin to lose interest and the nostalgia from traditional commercials shown in the past.
zucchinifries00 