Superbowl Ads

The Super Bowl is the sporting event of the year for many people and the advertisers take full advantage of this audience to sell their goods. They pay unbelievable amounts of money to get a 30 second slot of time and the audience it brings. So much so, an hour football game turns into four with three hours of advertising.

I watched all the attention the media gave to the ads days before the game and after the game was long over. Showing previews of the ads and wetting your appetite so everyone would view the game to see the complete ad. After the game they asked that you rate the ads to see which one was favored. One episode on television was devoted to nothing but promoting those previews. I was wondering to myself why, why all the attention to the ads on one particular program was news worthy?

Perhaps the advertisers wanted to get more for the money they forked out for the initial ad time or are they also trying to reach more than the sports fan? My guess is they want to reach as many people as possible for the same advertising dollar. They have discovered how to get the viewer to want to see their ads instead of seeing them as a distraction from the game. Clever for the advertiser but it only shows how gullible we are and how easily we are led by the corporations.

I have been amazed of late of what the corporations will do to sell their products and what kinds of fleshy sins they use to appeal to the average person. They reek of loose morals and blatant sexuality as well as our intuitive sense of want. Covet; they try so hard to make us want everything they sell. I have to ask myself why they are so successful in reaching into the depths of our desires. Why are we so easily led to buy everything we see, perhaps instead we should be grateful for what we already have, because most of us have so much already.

I was reminded of Philippians 4:12~ I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

I also know that secret because I have been in both those situations many times over my lifetime. The secret is a combination of gratitude and worship. We first must be thankful for what we already have and learn to be content with it. We must accept our situation and make do with what we have, happily thanking God for what we do have to work with. 

The easiest way to do this is to turn off the TV and busy ourselves with our own work, in our own homes and in our own lives. There is always something that needs to be done, praising God for the home we do have and the family he has given us to do things for. If you have done all you can with what you have, take a look around your neighborhood to see if someone else has a need that you could help with, sharing God’s word and comfort.