American Culture and the
Super Bowl
Angela M. Nigro
Avila University
American
football is an important aspect of American history and culture. Although it had not been developed
until the 1860s, this sport, a combination of soccer and rugby, has grown
enormously in terms of players and spectators (History, 2014). In addition, new advancements in
technology, industry, and society have allowed for increased participation and
viewership for sporting events. As
American culture has progressed, so has football. Through the history of football, specifically the National
Football League (NFL), one can look at a single sporting event to get a glimpse
of how the media and American pop culture are advancing. This event is the Super Bowl.
The
Super Bowl is the championship game of the NFL and has been in existence since
1967. Prior to 1967, there was an
American Football League (AFL) as well as the NFL. These two leagues were in competition with one another, but
merged together in June of 1966 to form what is now known as the National
Football League (NFL) (Redmann, 2011, p. 10.) It was a privilege for a network
to broadcast the Super Bowl and networks hoped to attract more viewers
throughout the entire year simply by airing the Big Game, a term referred to as
a ‘spillover effect’ (Rowe, 1999, p. 75). Without the shift from radio
broadcasting to television broadcasting that occurred in 1933, the Super Bowl
would not have been as effective as it was (Rowe, 2003, p. 50). One of the first radio networks, the
National Broadcasting Company (NBC), established in 1926, became one of the
first networks to televise the Super Bowl (Rowe, 2003, p.
49)
In
addition to viewers, networks that aired the Super Bowl expected to be able to
negotiate advertising rights throughout the year with all other programs. The networks selected to broadcast the
Super Bowl took advantage of the opportunity by instituting a steep fee for
advertising time. The first Super
Bowl game in 1967, actually called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, aired
on both NBC and CBS. For a
30-second commercial slot, CBS charged $42,500 and NBC charged $37,500 (Klara,
2011, p. 9). Within the first few
years of the Super Bowl, the cost of a 30-second advertisement increased by
about $10,000, but by 1978, a 30-second spot with CBS was $162,300 while NBC
charged $185,000. These prices
only rose higher over time and by 2002, FOX and ABC charged $2.2 million for a
30-second commercial (Klara, 2011, p. 9).
While advertising prices increased, so,
too, did viewership throughout the years.
There were only around 44 million viewers for the Big Game in the 1960s,
but numbers have risen now to over 100 million (Klara, 2011, p. 11). In Sport,
Culture, and the Media: the Unruly Trinity David Rowe discusses why he
believes sports are so popular. He
mentions that while many programs have been previously recorded or edited,
“sports are the last remaining live coast-to-coast events” (Rowe, 1999, p. 79). Rowe goes on to
quote Singer by saying “only sports has the nation, and sometimes the world,
watching the same thing at the same time, and if you have a message, that’s a
potent messenger, (Singer, 1998: 36)” (Rowe, 1999, p.78-79). American is a capitalist nation and
many operations are driven by money.
This is easily reflected in the Super Bowl.
An
interesting aspect of this capitalist society lies in advertising industries
and corporations themselves. With
the presence of social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube, some
companies have created an interesting approach for advertising. The tactic is simply to create an
advertisement that may be too sexually explicit for television, have it
rejected or banned, and hope that conservative news stations and other
reporters speak out against the video, therefore unintentionally promoting the
company (Morrissey, 2011).
Richard Belfry, owner of a satirical T-shirt and novelty
item company, JesusHatesObama.com, wrote a Super Bowl ad featuring Obama and
Jesus bobbleheads dueling (Morrissey, 2011).
FOX rejected the ad, so Belfry tried Plan B, which relies heavily on
news media coverage and today’s cultural fixation with controversy (Morrissey, 2011).
After dozens of news media such as CNN and New York magazine covered the story,
the advertisement, which only cost $15,000 to make, had over 300,000 views in
only four days on Youtube (Morrissey, 2011).
Although
advertisements have always been emphasized throughout the history of the Big
Game, the half time show was not initially the illustrious and complex
performance that it is today. The first three games featured university
marching bands and Carol Channing was the first solo performer in 1970 (NFL, 2014). Throughout the years until 1989, the halftime show varied,
featuring performances of university marching bands or drill teams, the
nonprofit organization and performance group Up with People, as well as
appearances by city or organization bands and performers such as the Los
Angeles Super Drill Team in 1983 and the U.S. Air Force Band in 1985 (NFL, 2014).
Since
the 1990s, the Super Bowl has hired big name performers for the half time show
such as Tony Bennett, Diana Ross, Boyz II Men, Phil Collins, Aerosmith, NSYNC,
U2, Shania Twain, No Doubt, and Sting.
These performances began to shift from instrumentals and vocals to
dancers, special effects, sky divers, and other elaborate displays. The change in the performing style only
reflected the advancement in technology such as with computer enhancing
effects, LED lighting, and even an improvement on staging displays and pivoting
platforms. Each half time show may
reflect the current trends in pop culture based on the performer, but there was
a slight change of performers after 2004.
The
most controversial half time show could arguably be during the 2004 Super Bowl
XXVIII in which Janet Jackson had a wardrobe malfunction at the end of her
performance, exposing her breast on live television. In an article in Time Magazine, some writers said that the
actions during the show only reflect the negative aspects of American culture
today. They write, “A culture that
tells young men they can’t formulate a thought deeper than ‘show us your tits’.
A culture tat pushes young women to put out for the market, then ridicules them
when they do. A culture swinging between cynical sex-sells greed and moral
parentalism” (Poniewozik, 2004).
After their performance, the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) became more strict on TV regulations
and the Super Bowl had to delay broadcasting for a few seconds on the coasts to
ensure appropriate broadcasting for the audience. There was also a shift in the performers, from young adult
pop stars to legendary rock artists such as Paul McCartney (2005), the Rolling
Stones (2006), Prince (2007), Bruce Springsteen (2009), and the Who in 2010 (NFL,
2014). After more mature bands performed and the chaos of the 2004 half time
show was forgotten, the NFL and the broadcasters focused on more mainstream
performers again. Within the last
four years, the Blackeyed Peas, Madonna, Beyonce and Destiny’s Child, and Bruno
Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers have performed. These performers reflect current pop culture and did not
create any controversy.
The
fact that a musical performance is incorporated into a sporting event can be
dated back to the Games of the Ancient Greeks in which included art and poetry
alongside their athletic competitions (Rowe, 2003). Even though this is a classical
tradition, our culture today includes many technological and social advances
that stray away from older methods.
For example, it is become more common for advertisers to engage in the
public and submit their own videos via social media to win a prize and have
their video featured as an advertisement, which has been done by Frito-Lay’s
Doritos and the National Football League.
Social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and websites like Reddit have
created a way for sports enthusiasts to communicate and share information, even
outside of the particular season.
Information readily available on the Internet such as potential
recruits, new contracts, possible trades, and other team-related information
has allowed sports fans to be more involved in the team and more informed.
The
Super Bowl reflects the current pop culture through the selection of the
performers in the halftime show as well as the interests in the
advertisements. While America is a
capitalist nation, it is not out of character for networks to be driven by
monetary gain and competition, therefore charging over millions of dollars if
the demand is present. While the
sport itself is exciting to watch, more viewers can focus on other entertaining
factors during the Big Game.
References
Morrissey, B. (2011). A $15K Super Bowl Play. Brandweek. 52(4).
Poniewozik, J., Ressner, J., Gregory, S., Cuadros, P., Stewart, F. (2004). The hypocrisy bowl. Time Magazine, 163( 7).
Rowe, D. Critical Readings: Sport, Culture, and the Media. (2003). Buckingham, PA: Open University Press.
Rowe, D. Sport, Culture, and the Media: The Unruly Trinity. (1999). Buckingham, PA: Open University Press.
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