It’s Super Bowl weekend. For our non-Canadian friends reading this post, you may not be aware of this. With all the excitement and hype of the Super Bowl commercials, they’re usually not seen in Canada during the game. In Canada, the game’s broadcast rights are purchased by Canadian stations which sell advertising to Canadian companies.
A complete explanation is available here on the CRTC website.
It can be frustrating for a number of reasons – everyone wants to see the next Bud Bowl but can’t and there are times when the cutaways to commercials are exactly perfect and you miss a bit. Educationally, I know that many teachers like to use the Super Bowl commercials to have discussions about media literacy. In fact, it was just this that gave me the ammunition to change my former employer’s policy of blocking YouTube as that’s where the videos ultimately end up.
It’s just so ironic that commercials that we find as necessary evils during regular show take on such a higher priority during the Super Bowl.
Even so, everyone wants to see them. The advertisers are smart and even release some of the commercials early. From my circles, the leader seems to be the Budweiser “Puppy Love” commercial.
As I write this post, there are almost 26 Million views! Say what you will about advertising, there sure is a great deal of interest!
If you’re sitting back planning for a media literacy unit for school starting Monday, you might be interested in this link.
“Here Are All the Super Bowl Ads You Can See Before Sunday’s Big Game“
or here
And, if you’re looking for some inspiration, this article from 2008 on MediaSmarts has some ideas that are just as relevant today.
doug -- off the record 
Please share your thoughts here. I’d enjoy reading them.