Super Bowl advertisers mix serious, sentimental messages amid humorous ones
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Posted 7:50AM on Monday, February 4, 2002
NEW YORK - It was a rare Super Bowl where the game may have been more entertaining than the commercials. <br>
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Super Bowl advertisers appealed to a range of emotions -- from grief, gratitude and nostalgia to humor and a lust for mayhem -- in pitches Sunday that Fox said were sold at an average of just under $2 million per 30-second ad. <br>
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It's typically the most expensive show of the year on TV, and advertisers usually try create blockbusters to catch the attention of an audience that averages more than 80 million people. <br>
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But the sponsors were hard-pressed to keep pace with the suspense of a game that saw the underdog New England Patriots kick a field goal as time ran out for a 20-17 upset win over the St. Louis Rams for the NFL championship. <br>
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Brewer Anheuser-Busch was the biggest sponsor with five minutes of ads. <br>
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In a commercial for Budweiser, its Clydesdale horses pull a beer wagon from a snowy farm across the bridge into New York's Manhattan where they appear to pause, bend a knee and bow their heads near ground zero. <br>
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Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani expressed New York's appreciation for America's help after Sept. 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center in another commercial courtesy of job site Monster.com. <br>
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Pepsi-Cola ran two nostalgic ads with pop singer Britney Spears reprising past Pepsi jingles dating to 1958. <br>
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General Motors' Cadillac used a classic 1959 Eldorado to pass the baton to its three latest models, accompanied by Led Zeppelin's 30-year-old song "Rock and Roll." <br>
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But before viewers could conclude Madison Avenue had gone squishy, sandwich shop Quizno's turned up with an ad showing a rival fast-food chain using a dart to get a consumer to "dive" into its untoasted sandwich in a taste test. <br>
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Lipton Brisk executives fire the puppets from their ads after discovering its new tea formulation sells itself. The puppets stage a noisy, messy protest. <br>
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In a Bud Light ad, the roly-poly ladies man Cedric returns to advise a friend at a bar about how to get an attractive woman's attention. But she slugs the friend when he parrots a line Cedric meant for the bartender. <br>
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In another Bud Light ad spoofing cable TV's "BattleBots" battles, a robotic refrigerator pummels an opponent who tries to take the beer inside. <br>
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The movie companies evidently feel the country is ready for some shoot-em-up action -- mayhem abounded in ads for new films like "Collateral Damage," "The Scorpion King," "Bad Company" and "Blade II." <br>
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A mystery was solved in the Super Bowl -- AT&T Wireless is the company behind those ads that have been asking if you have an "M-Life." It's a term the phone company evidently hopes will catch on for mobile phone services. <br>
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Some advertisers tried mighty hard to be funny -- maybe too hard. <br>
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E-Trade Group signalled its expansion into financial advice and banking as well as handling trades with an ad that showed its chimp sporting a green tux in a musical-style commercial. But the ad says critics panned the approach, and the CEO steers the chimp to a new job -- on a space flight. <br>
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Levi Strauss & Co. ran an ad for its Dockers pants that showed three burly men in black dresses at a party. It wasn't clear why they dressed that way. <br>
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Blockuster Video appeared bent on creating its version of the popular Bud frogs and lizards. Its ad featured a rabbit and guinea pig who live in a pet shop across from a Blockbuster and spend their days imitating movie scenes. <br>
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There were some serious messages as well aimed at discouraging consumers from buying drugs and cigarettes. <br>
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The White House Office of National Drug Control ran two ads that warned those who buy drugs may be helping finance terrorists. <br>
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Marlboro maker Philip Morris ran two ads that encouraged parents to warn their children against smoking. The American Legacy Foundation, which is financed by part of the tobacco industry's $206 billion legal settlement with the states, also ran two ads trumpeting dangerous chemicals in cigarette smoke. <br>
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