Page 141 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

130 • Sport, Media and Society

to sport. Sport fans, waiting for the game to recommence, were asked to transfer the
magic of the Rugby World Cup to the Peugeot 308.

Case Study: Super Bowl Advertising—
Bigger Than the Game?

Advertising has become a central feature of the National Football League (NFL)

Super Bowl (Horovitz 2008). Approximately fifty-four commercials were shown
during Super Bowl XLII in 2008. A pregame survey by Hanon McKendry found that
57 per cent of US adults who planned to watch the Super Bowl were watching for the
advertisements as much as (or even more than) for the game itself (Reuters 2008).
After the game, The New York Times reported that ‘the commercials “got a higher
audience than the game” in homes with the TiVo video recorder service’ (Elliott
2008). During the game, the announcers reminded viewers that they could access any
commercials that they missed on MySpace. In addition, viewers were able to vote
for their favourite advertisement on a number of different Web site polls, including
USA Today’s real-time ad meter, MySpace, and AOL. Super Bowl XLII proved to
be an exciting game watched by 97.5 million viewers in the United States, and the
outcome, an unpredicted loss for the previously unbeaten New England Patriots,
hinged on the fi nal play.
One of the themes present in the build-up to Super Bowl XLII was the pursuit of
perfection evidenced in the New England Patriots’ pursuit of a ‘perfect’ record, a
whole season without losing a game. During the pregame show, there was an NFL
promotional narrated by Russell Crowe that focused on perfection. Amidst a back-
drop of images of iconic paintings, such as the Mona Lisa, and famous individuals,
such as Martin Luther King, Einstein and Amelia Earhart, Crowe’s voice-over ex-
tolled the pursuit of perfection and the ways that it is embodied in the Super Bowl—
not only in the Patriots’ goal of a season without any losses, but in the New York
Giants’ desire to be perfect on the day. The piece concluded, ‘Be inspired by the
pursuit of perfection you will see today. Whatever it means to us, whether it’s to be
better at our own job, to be a better friend, to be a better parent because if they can
strive for it, in our own way maybe we can too’ (Fox Super Bowl Sunday Pregame
Show 2008). Themes of working hard, pursuing success and striving for perfection
were echoed within the broadcast as well as within one of the most popular adver-
tisements that ran during the game.

Hank the Horse and the Spirit of Rocky

The favourite advertisement during the Super Bowl, according to the USA Today ad
meter 2008, was a Rocky-themed spot by Budweiser featuring a Clydesdale horse named
‘Hank’ and a Dalmation. The spot began with a country scene, with sunlight streaming