In the 40 years since the first Super Bowl was played between Green Bay and Kansas City, Super Bowl Sunday has grown into an unofficial national holiday that has shopping and economic effects rivaling Christmas, Thanksgiving and other major official holidays. Whether it’s a casual get together with a few friends or a lavish, catered party, 125 million Americans celebrated the Super Bowl in some fashion in 2006. Even those with little interest in football get in on the craze, if only to watch the commercials.
Understanding this unique opportunity, advertisers spare no expense to showcase their products and services during the Super Bowl. Advertisers paid up to $2.5 million dollars for each 30 seconds of advertising during Super Bowl XL in 2006. Agencies work on their advertisements all year, and the Super Bowl has become the unofficial Academy Awards of advertising. There are almost as many websites and television programs analyzing the advertisements as there are analyzing the game.
The food and beverage industry also profits from Super Bowl Sunday. Super Bowl Sunday is second only to Thanksgiving in the amount of food that Americans prepare and consume. In...