So let us say I’m watching a commercial and it’s this really big juicy burger that comes on the screen. Man it looks so good it even makes me want to lick my T.V. screen. So I run to the store that advertises that burger and I get me not one, not two, but three of them. You know why? They’re not as big as it seems. The camera really does add 10 pounds… to everything. I eat three of them and I’m still NOT FULL. But one of those tiny things are like $3.99, and they were not even good. Read more...

If you’ve ever questioned the power of TV ads, you have obviously never heard of Juvenile Junk Food Zombies. Researchers say that kids eat twice as much unhealthy food after watching TV shows that have commercials for soda, candy and fast food than they would if they had watched their shows without the ads. That is, the mere exposure to these commercials is enough to turn a kid who would have stopped at one bag of Cheetos into a kid who will reach for – and mindlessly consume! – a whole second bag. If that’s not zombie behavior I don’t know what is.

The Super Bowl is less than two weeks away and most people tune in to watch their favorite players or team battle it out. Others tune in for the halftime show—waiting for another Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction to happen—or to simply watch the commercials.

One commercial viewers won’t get to watch is from ManCrunch.com, a gay dating website. The CBS network rejected the commercial. CNN quoted CBS spokesperson Shannon Jacobs “After reviewing the ad, which is entirely commercial in nature, our standards and practices department decided not to accept this particular spot" CBS also said it turned down the commercial because of financial reasons.

According to ManCruncher’s spokesperson, Elissa Butcher, CBS’s rejection is “straight-up discrimination.” It's hard not to disagree with Butcher because the stereotype of who watches the Super Bowl— aggressively straight alpha males—wouldn’t want to see an ad for a gay dating site. Last year's Super Bowl had it's highest viewership ever of 98,732,000 fans.

If the company makes an eye-catching commercial and can offer to pay $2.5 million why not have a slot on the Super Bowl? It would have been nice to change the tradition.
 

Watching the Super Bowl is not just about watching your favorite player, team, or performance. It's also about watching the commercials. Pepsi has announced that its 23-year-long Super Bowl commercial career is coming to an end. The soda company said it will use its money for a new marketing effort that’s mostly online. Pepsi has had the best commercials, but unfortunately we won’t get the chance to see another of those classic commercials after 2010.

The average 30-second super bowl commercial costs $3 million dollars. Pepsi was one the biggest advertisers in this year’s Super Bowl and has been since 1987.

“Pepsi had been a major advertiser during the Super Bowl. According to TNS, the company spent $142.8 million on the 10 Super Bowl ads from 1999 to 2008, second only to Anheuser-Busch, which spent $216 million. The brewer of Bud Light confirmed Thursday it will have 5 minutes worth of advertising in the 2010 Super Bowl.”

(via ESPN)

The company has decided to dedicate its time to a new project, the“Pepsi Refresh Project.” This project will pay $20 million to programs created by the people to “refresh” communities. Pepsi will have a website—that is expected to go live on Jan 13—where people can post projects like teaching children how to read, or how to organize a group to collect and deliver food. Users can then vote for the project that deserves funding. It looks like Pepsi is trying to give back to the community with its new project.

Will this new project be as succesful as their commercials? I don't know. One thing is clear; Pepsi stepping down leaves room for their rivals, Coca Cola--who has spent in the last decade $30 million dollars on Super Bowl ads—to come out stronger than ever.

Check out this video of top ten Super Bowl Ads of 2008—in which Pepsi came in at number 1 and 3.