Is the Super Bowl still about football? When asking a small group of friends, we all said no, it’s not just about football. The Super Bowl is about everything. But is it really worth it? Imagine the things that could be done with the $5 million that are spent for a 30-second commercial about insurance for your grandparents or chips for your next late night snack. On the one hand, this reinforces ideas about what society decides is important and what is deemed irrelevant. On the other hand, commercials are another way for a different group of people to enjoy watching the same television screen, but from a different perspective. A perspective that might not include sports.
Maybe the commercials make an “event” like the Super Bowl much more inclusive. Maybe it does open our eyes to one or two things we had not noticed or thought about in the past. It could be possible that the commercial reminding us to recycle will encourage us to separate our food garbage from our plastic bottles. This is not to reduce the effort and energy that the athletes on the field put into their athletic careers. The athletic accomplishments of the players speak for themselves. “I’m just here for the company and the commercials” seems to be the perfect summary of the outlook that some have for the Super Bowl.
