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The Super Bowl: Where We Can’t Get Away From Tebow or Favre

Jan 27, 2010, 3:03 PM UTC

With less than two weeks before the Super Bowl, much of the talk surrounding the game will begin to focus on the commercials. And obviously, that's because with millions upon millions of dollars spent on creating these 30-second spots, added to the millions it costs to run them during the Super Bowl, companies (and their ad agencies) want to make sure they get the biggest bang for the incredibly expensive buck.

While most of America is focused on Focus on the Family – the organization that has signed on Tim Tebow and his mom to do a commercial spot – the next few weeks will flood us with news of other celebrity endorsers and sneak peeks at ads that, as entertaining as we want them to be, will hopefully not be more entertaining than the game itself.

One such celebrity endorser? You guessed it – Brett Lorenzo Favre. And while we’ve come to learn about Favre’s love for purchasing electronics at Sears and wearing comfortable jeans, Favre will be pitching something different during the Super Bowl. Favre is the new pitchman for Hyundai Motor America. Per the NYT:

â‡¥The spot with Mr. Favre was filmed last month, Mr. Ewanick said, before he led the Minnesota Vikings to the National Football Conference championship game, which drew a mammoth audience on Sunday.â‡¥â‡¥The spot with Mr. Favre will promote the Hyundai 10-year, 100,000-mile warranty with a scene showing him being interviewed after he wins a most valuable player award in the 2020 football season.â‡¥
â‡¥â‡¥At age 50 and after playing 29 seasons, says Mr. Favre, wearing make-up to look older, perhaps it is time to retire. Or maybe not.â‡¥

So yes, in my head I now have visions of Favre strapping on a pair of Wranglers, meeting up with his rugged, tough, football-playing friends for a game in the mud before hopping into his sensible and affordable foreign-made sedan to go buy a 60-inch TV. It’s the American dream, really.

In a sign that the auto industry is on the rebound, Hyundai is one of six different car brands that will advertise during the Super Bowl. In total, Hyundai will feature six commercials during the game and pregame show, with clearly the most attention planned for the ad with Favre. The other in-game spot boasts that the Sonata has as good a paint job as a Mercedes. This is what they expect to sell cars now? Brett Favre retirement jokes and paint? Actually, Hyundai, if you throw in a free undercoating and guarantee another summer without Favre's waffling, I'll go buy a Sonata right now. Who says advertising doesn't work?

Favre isn’t the only athlete who can’t decide if he should retire or not doing a Super Bowl ad. Lance Armstrong will also be doing a spot for Budweiser-owned Michelob Ultra. Let’s hope they come up with something funnier than “don’t drink and ride.”

Perhaps the worst Super Bowl ad news is the fact that the game will be without Clydesdales for the first time since 2001. A spot with the giant, majestic horsies was filmed, but per VP of marketing for Anheuser-Busch Keith Levy, that commercial didn’t test as well as the others they are running during the game. The company will have five minutes worth of commercials for Bud and Bud Light, with the bulk of those spots going to Bud Light’s new campaign “Here we go.”

So to recap: a cheesy beer slogan – with one spot that features a house ‘made out of’ beer cans and bottles – with no horses kicking field goals or, from what the report indicated, talking frogs of any kind. Plus, we get a preachy ad from a college quarterback, another beer ad from a guy on a bike and an old Brett Favre in a Hyundai. This ad season is not looking good. Let’s hope the new E*Trade baby gets in some sort of fight with the old E*Trade monkey. That’ll save things.