At this point, we’ve all seen the stats about the costs for Super Bowl ads, the ads for the ads, the ads for the ads for the ads, and some of the fun facts that go along with the big game:

• 1.23 billion chicken wings and 29 million slices of pizza will be eaten during the game.
• 8 million pounds of guacamole is consumed.
• 14,500 tons of chips are eaten along with that guacamole accounting for 27 billion calories worth of just chips!

Beyond caloric intake, Super Bowl Sunday has an impact like nothing else in our country.  With today’s “DVR Revolution” (read: Generation Aint-Nobody-Got-Time-for-That) approach to TV, brands are all the more eager to take advantage of our attention.  A projected 169 million viewers will tune in to the game, but according to Amy Beamer, about half of us are there just for the commercials.  That may have something to do with the fact that brands are now running ads to promote their ads.  According to Tim Calkins, professor of marketing at Northwestern, he suspects “Bud Light would have spent as much on the teaser spots as they would have spent on the actual Super Bowl, or perhaps even more.”
All of this has led to astronomical advertising costs.  A 30 second ad “averaged around $4 million for 30 seconds worth of ad time”, according to Ad Age.