From the Desk

The Super Bowl is probably the most unique sporting event in the world. Sure, football does have a lot to do with the popularity of the big game, but every year, whether you’re a lifelong football fan or completely clueless, one culture-defying trend unifies the entire country – America’s one-day interest in advertisements.

In a 2006 CBS News article, Yankelovich Marketing Firm President Jay Walker-Smith estimated that Americans see approximately 5,000 advertisements every day, and we can only assume that number has since increased with the advent of more new media and technology. Americans are subjected to sitting through anywhere from 15 seconds to two minutes of advertisements for products in which they have no interest whatsoever almost every time they click on a YouTube video or a television show on Hulu. It has become the ultimate in first world problems.

After all those advertisements as companies battle for attention, what still sends countless non-sports fans flocking to the television at the end of every NFL postseason? Advertisements.

Super Bowl advertisements have become even more of a competition than the game itself these days.

In an industry where standing out and being remembered is the goal, humor used to be the way to go. I can still remember the E-Trade baby commercials and the monkeys from the CareerBuilder.com commercials during the early 2000s that made life impossible for the one human employee in the office — although I will admit I had to look up what company it actually promoted.

These days, there seems to be more complaints about the lack of funny commercials. Why is that? Companies want to be remembered. As companies pursued a new formula for effective advertising during the Super Bowl, fans started to wonder where all the humor had gone.

As soon as Dodge broke through all the noise with their emotional 2013 portrayal of the importance of farmers, companies began imitating their success with advertisements running for multiple minutes, forcing viewers to wonder why their television has suddenly switched to such a dramatic tone for more than just 30 seconds.

As if making a noticeable advertisement were not hard enough already, some companies have begun to circumvent the system and post their Super Bowl advertisement online days before the game. Although the tactic does create advance interest in an advertisement, it also spoils the punch line when half the room has already seen a funny commercial.

For the sake of all Super Bowl viewers, I hope advertisers return to their humorous ways in 2015. But do not be surprised if next year brings more of the same, because if professional football and the advertising industry have taught us one thing, it is to go where the money is, right?