Worst Super Bowl Ads Ever Constitute Attention Theft

My attention was stolen on Sunday and I can never get those lost moments back.  And I am riled up. 

Sorry, but that is how I feel about this year's crop of of anemic Super Bowl Ads.  I, like 100 million other people, allowed my attention to what I really cared about --the Game--to be hijacked every few minutes by mostly boring, often amateurish schlock.  After every change of ball possession, every injury, every time out, we viewers were assaulted with a parade of pathetic pitches--including wrap-arounds, embedded graphics and sponsorships.  What made it worse, is that I had high expectations that this annual display of what is supposed to be our best commercial videos would actually be entertaining, and therefore worth my attention.  It was not.  Computer-generated forest animals, talking babies and a sophomoric send-up with Carmen Electra?  That is the best Madison Avenue can do for $3 million a pop? 

As the worst year for overall ad quality in modern memory, this year's Big Game fallout gives us all a chance to reconsider the sanctity of our attention.  After my family, my attention--my capacity to receive new information--is the most precious thing in my busy life.  What advertisers did on Sunday was steal from me--and you.  And, the problem is bigger than the Super Bowl.  Look around.  Every time you are confronted with unwanted ads and misplaced messages, someone is trying to steal your attention for their benefit.  Ask yourself: what's in it for me?  In exchange for 22 minutes of mediocre television programming, we are bombarded with eight minutes of intelligence-draining dreck.  Is that a fair exchange of value for value?  I don't think so.  There has got to be a better way.  Life is too short to live in a fog of cognitive larceny.

It may be time to launch the Attention Rights Movement.

Comments

[anaglyph]

A past incarnation has seen me working as a very successful international composer and sound designer on ads, and I can tell you what's going on: tv advertising is dying. The advertising agencies are completely bewildered by the way that the their target audiences are now accessing media. The internet, Tivo, games, podasts, vodcasts and, yes, maybe even piracy, are making major inroads into how media is accessed, and the agencies are running around like chooks with their heads cut off (as we say down here).

The overall effect is that they are spending far less money on tv ads, hence your underwhelming Superbowl experience. Along with that, agencies are spending far less money on good writers, and taking far fewer risks - read: opting for the direction that the client likes most. Since clients (speaking generally) are not known for either their good taste or their ability to be adventurous, the overall standard has been dropping inexorably for some years.

Some of my friends have been responsible for Superbowl ads that you may have seen, and I can say without any shadow of a doubt that the ads they made would never get off the ground in this current climate.

I can tell you this: expect more of the stupid stuff; the wraparounds, the in-field graphics, and even virtual advertising (picture this: at half time, a herd of dinosaurs comes onto the field and plays football in the actual arena, courtesy of digital magic - this is not a speculation - I heard this idea pitched).

Thing is, as you have fully realised, the halfwits are shooting themselves in the foot. Eventually they will annoy enough people so much that everyone will just Tivo the game and skip the ads, foregoing the 'live' experience in favour of a more pleasurable viewing experience. Great going chaps!