On Sunday, February 1 an estimated audience of 115 million at any given point will tune in to watch the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots battle to be the next Super Bowl champions. Many will tune in for the football—some just to see the commercials.
    For 364 days a year we typically complain about having to sit through commercials and look for commercial-free options to meet our viewing needs, yet on Super Bowl Sunday millions toss their feelings aside and eagerly anticipate what advertisers have come up with.
    This year the buy-ups will come at a cost of $4.5 million per thirty second spot, not to mention the dollars spent on conceiving, creating and producing the ads. Big dollars, big risk…and with fingers crossed there is hope for big reward.
    In putting up this kind of money companies are putting their name out there in a forum that will generate talk long past the game, and even in subsequent years when it seems a review of past ad successes and debacles is a necessary part of the build-up to Super Bowl Sunday. Advertising dollars spent years ago continue paying off for some companies who did it really, really right—or really, really wrong.
    Smart companies recognize the importance of advertising. And therein is the genius of what marketers have done with the Super Bowl. They have so successfully created a climate of advertising anticipation some viewers tune into the broadcast just to catch the commercials.
    Those of us tuning in the game in Canada however won’t see many of these ads during the live broadcast because Canada and the US are separate markets for television rights. To finance the right to broadcast the Super Bowl here, advertising time is sold to Canadian advertisers intent on reaching Canadian audiences, consequently the ads we will see are different from the ones shown south of the border. Many of us will need to seek on-line sources or patiently wait for the analysis to begin to get our 30-second dose of A-list celebrities, adorable puppies or anthropomorphized horses.
    The very fact that international viewers won’t see the same commercials makes the original ads all the more appealing. It seems to be human nature to want what we can’t have. But if some truly important things were denied to us—would we take the time to re-evaluate their meaning in our lives?
In places where people are persecuted for their faith, believers will walk for miles or risk injury or death to take part in worship. In Canada, where freedom of religion is guaranteed, attendance is dwindling and adherence to a belief system is diminishing.
    In places where education is difficult to access, families will make necessary sacrifices to get their children enrolled in a safe learning environment. In Canada, where educational options are plenteous, frustrations are increasing over the degree of bullying, disrespect and belligerence needing to be dealt with on a regular basis.
    In places where voting can require a full days walk to a polling booth, citizens consider marking a ballot a tremendous privilege. In Canada, voter turnout has dropped to 61%.
How unfortunate that we may need to be denied something before we truly recognize its value. Just as we need to be informed consumers when sorting through the abundance of advertising coming our way, we need to be indebted citizens when recognizing what we have access to every day in our communities. Let’s spend 30 seconds thinking about how priceless that is. That’s my outlook.
