Super Bowl commercials

John Cañamar, Sports Editor

At a whopping price of $5 million for a 30-second time slot, advertisers were tripping over themselves to reserve one of the coveted ad spots during the Super Bowl.

At these prices, you would think that they would turn to seasoned professionals to create their ad campaign.

If this was your thought, then you should be surprised to learn that a multi-billion dollar company like Doritos has hosted a contest for the past 10 years to see who will create their ad.

This year, the winner created an ad with a couple at the doctor’s office viewing an ultra-sound of their baby. When the father pulls out a bag of Doritos, he notices that the baby is following the chip that is in his hand. Upset, the mother snatches the chip and throws it across the room.

At this point, the camera pans over to the monitor where the baby pushes off of the mother’s stomach as if a swimmer taking a turn in a pool and dives out of view of the monitor. The mother instantly screams, along with the doctor. The commercial implies that she goes into labor.

As great as that commercial was, the most amusing was one where Kevin Hart plays a father whose daughter goes out on a date. Hart gives his car keys to the young man and then pops up in all the locations the young man takes his daughter. The ad was for Hyundai Genesis and its car-tracking feature.

There are also the commercials that leave you scratching your head; why did they spend their money on this?

Usually these are the commercials that have aired prior to the big game. This year, that commercial was an Advil ad that has run since November of last year.

Prices for next year’s game are said to be at $5.25 million for the same 30-second spot.