Hot Take: Why do we care about Super Bowl ads?

On most occasions, we do our best to avoid them.

Our cursors hover eagerly over YouTube countdowns until we can skip the remainder of an ad. They interrupt our music flow. And they serve as only a bathroom or snack break on any other night we find ourselves watching network television.

But then, on but one night every year, something magical happens. Groups of people across America join together in living rooms, dorm rooms, bars, and breweries to eat snacks and watch some big dudes beat each other up. But that game is punctuated by that which we normally avoid, but on this night, cannot seem to look away from – Super Bowl ads.

Companies have gotten crafty. It’s good business to advertise during the Super Bowl, because a heck ton of people (I rounded up) watch it every year. And a half-heck ton of people are watching it just for the creative commercials. Well, maybe I should put creative in quotes because sometimes they’re not. It’s hit-and-miss, and they are judged heavily every year by many an eye.

So my question for this hot take is: Why?  Why is that which we ignore on 364 days of the year the sole reason a lot of people watch the big game?

And there’s probably more than one reason. One good reason is it costs a ton of money. This year, it cost 5.2 million dollars to air a thirty second ad during the Super Bowl. That’s a lot of bucks. Which is probably why you see a lot of big-box companies (phone providers, cars, potential blockbuster films, etc) advertising and not the lil guys. And if you’re gonna pay that much, you probably want to make those thirty seconds worth every cent.

So now we’ve come to expect great commercials as a result. If you’re not talking about the score at the water cooler on Monday morning, you’re talking about how clever, or politically-charged, or down-right weird the commercials were this year. Usually it’s a mixture of all three (or more.) Websites will go so far as to rank their favorites, and the best ones go down in history (and weirdly enough, they tend to be beer commercials. Like every year.)

And since football is almost as American as apple pie, a lot of people watch the Super Bowl. Even if it’s boring and the Patriots win again. It’s become an almost cultural experience. Even stores start to advertise the “big game” like it’s a holiday.

It might even be because it’s a common experience that brings us all together. Even if you don’t give a whiff about sports, you still have something to talk about with your co-workers the next morning. Sports isn’t something I connect with other people over, but that funny Bud Light commercial? Heck yeah. I’m still able to make a connection with Scott from finance without knowing a first down from a yard line (and honestly I don’t know the difference.)

To wrap up this short one-off, humans like things that bring them together and cause connections. That’s why we tell stories around a campfire, share our favorite songs with the people we love, and watch sports that we otherwise wouldn’t care about. Because maybe in the midst of some beefy guys trying to kill each other, we can get a small taste of the human experience.