"The Most Expensive Day on Television"

Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone! Today a little less than half of America tuned in to watch the Big Game. Since my blog is about advertisements, I'm incredibly happy it's going to cover the most expensive day on television. I thought that for today's post, I would make a compilation of the commercials, and I'll explain how much I'll spend on each of their products. Then there will be some sort of conclusion/results. :)

I won't count same-brand cars twice because I wouldn't own two of the same sedan, but it could be possible to own a sedan and a SUV. I will also only purchase one of some items, like the FLO TV (because I can only watch one at at time). But I will count most consumables more than once.

First quarter:
-Bud light house $6.99 for a six-pack
-Snickers: Betty White $0.79 for a single
-Focus on Family Free, religious service
-Hyundai $19,195 for a basic Sonata
-Boost Mobile $50 for unlimited talk, web, and text
-Doritos dog $2.99 for a bag
-Robin Hood $10.00 for a movie ticket
-Doritos play nice $2.99 for a bag
-Bud light observatory $6.99 for a six-pack
-Coke: Simpsons $1.39 for an average bottle
-GoDaddy Danica's massage $9.99 for a new .com
-Doritos miracle $2.99 for a bag
-Budlight voicebox $6.99 for a six-pack
-Monster.com beaver free to find a job
-Wolfman $10.00 for a movie ticket
-Bridgestone bachelor party $200.00 per tire
-Sketchers Shape Ups $110.00 for a pair of shoes
-Cars.com free service to find a car
First quarter: $20,217.11

Second quarter:
-Budweiser body bridge $6.99 for a six-pack
-Shutter Island $10.00 for a movie ticket
-Late Show free show on network TV
-Careerbuilder.com casual Fridays free service
-Dockers wear no pants $30 for a pair of soft khaki pants
-Hyundai already mentioned
-Bud light survivor $6.99 for a six-pack
-Dove You Are a Man $5-$20 for skin care products
-NFL Draft no product here, although most companies charge for NFL network
-NFL: The Who already mentioned
-Dodge Charger: Man's Last Stand about $30,000 for a 2010 Charger
-Teleflora.com $59.95 for a bouquet
-Papa Johns $9 for the 3-topping Super Bowl XLIV pizza
-Alice in Wonderland $10.00 for a movie ticket
-Dr. Peper and Mini Kiss $1.39 for a bottle
-TruTV Punxatawney Polamalu cable tv channel
-Universal Florida Harry Potter about $100 for a one-day ticket
-FLO TV $199 for the mobile TV
-Intel: Lunchroom about $400 average for the new chips
-FLO TV already mentioned
-NFL: Always Football already mentioned
Second quarter: $30,853.32

Third quarter:
-Prince of Persia $10.00 for a movie ticket
-Motorola: Megan Fox the Motorola Devour is available in march, <$199
-VW: Punching Game no specific car advertised
-Dennys Grand Slam free on Feb 9!
-Michelob Lance Armstrong $7.99 for a six-pack
-Homeaway.com no specific product advertised
-Bridgestone Future Car already mentioned
-KGB sumo $0.99 to get a text-answer
-Coke: sleep walking $1.39 for a bottle
-E-Trade Jealous Girlfriend $1,000 to open an account
-Census Bureau no cost
-Google: Parisian love no cost
-Kia Sorento average price of $25,000 for a 2011
-Select 55: Lightest Beer in the World not on the market yet, thank god
Third quarter: $26,219.37

Fourth quarter:
-NFL: Lift off already mentioned
-Vizio: Beyonce about $800 average for a TV
-Diamond Foods $2.99 a bag
-Dantes Inferno $59.99
-AB Clydesdale Friend no specific product advertised ($5.99 for a six-pack of Bud)
-Honda Accord Crosstour pricing expected to be $30,000
-Dennys Overworked Chickens already mentioned
-Audi Green Police A3 TDI starts at $29,950
-Taco Bell Five Buck Box $5
-Doritos: Weight Room $2.99 for a bag
-Bud Light Book Club $5.99 for a six-pack
-Hyundai New Sonata already mentioned
-E-Trade: Take Charge already mentioned
-GoDaddy.com Danica Interview already mentioned
-Denny's birthday breakfast already mentioned
Fourth quarter: $60,832.95

GRAND TOTAL: $103,509.17

It's expensive to advertise during the Superbowl: about $3 million for a 30-second spot this year. But it does reach over 90 million people. By simple math, this means companies pay about $0.33 to advertise to a single person. But that's not including production costs. It's pretty obvious that when you see my list of commercials and products, that they advise to men. Average aged, average wealthy, average everything... but I'm not the average male. At least, this month I'm not. That's because I buy everything that is advertised to me. It cost me over $100,000 to watch the Super Bowl!

So what can we learn from today's post? To be honest, I'm not sure yet. $3 million for 30-seconds of ad space is a ton of money, regardless of how many people see the ad, or on what day of the year it runs. The ads aren't life changing ads either. Buy some beer here, some chips there, maybe a snickers or two. Only a few ads really promote a product that is not really self-indulgent. And it's pretty ironic because the one religious ad had to pay the same amount as everyone else. Would that money have been better spent some where else? Probably, but it is their money and who am I to tell them what to do with it? If it costs $0.17 to prepare a meal for a starving child (as advertised on TV), then one Super Bowl ad could feed 5,882,352 people three-meals for a single day. To put a different spin on things, instead of advertising during the Super Bowl, companies could band together and buy an entire NFL team for a $1 billion. That's the cost of about 333 ads during the game. This year there was 69 spots sold, so after 5 years of saving (from this one day alone), Doritos, Budweiser, Coke and all the other guys... could buy their own NFL team. They could name them the New York Bud Lights, and logos would be all over the jerseys. The players would looks like Nascar hoods.

Ok, time to wrap it up. Today's ad was not as much about buying habits, as it was about spending habits. The spending of g-i-a-n-t companies. But that of course has a direct impact on our spending habits.

Your homework for this post: Is is ridiculous that ad companies spend so much money on Super Bowl advertising (and advertising in general)? Or is it ok because they profit so much? You DO have to spend money to make money, right? Do these ads make you want to buy their products?

The fine print:
Prices were researched & estimated individually
List of ads from: http://superbowlads.fanhouse.com/
Further research: http://adage.com/superbowl10/article?article_id=141168
Don't nab me on math or sources please :)