The Super Bowl is one of the most viewed events of the year. Watched by millions, who include sports lovers and non-sports lovers alike, people tune in whether their favorite team was lucky enough to make it to the big game or not. That group includes me.
I rooted for San Francisco this year and I’m from Cleveland, Ohio. I guess I’m a little partial to that team since my fiancé is attending the University of San Francisco and as a teen my best friend and I rooted for Deion Sanders when he played for the 49ers. Even though the 49ers got off to a rough start in Super Bowl XLVII, they fought back as hard as they could before their defeat was finalized.
While I am not a sports buff, I enjoyed watching the game and yelling at the television. Who doesn’t do that while viewing sports? Nevertheless, some of the best parts about watching the Super Bowl have nothing to do with the game. This year was filled with memorable moments. One of those moments was hearing the Sandy Hook Elementary children’s choir perform “America the Beautiful” with award-winning singer/actress Jennifer Hudson. While it’s hard to hear the name of Sandy Hook and not be reminded of the mass school shooting that brought such horror and grief to that city last year, hope was present in the faces of those children singing Sunday. It was touching to see them as part of the festivities.
Another memorable event was the half-time show featuring Beyoncé and the return of Destiny’s Child, the female R&B group that helped launch the Grammy-winner’s solo career.
While there is so much that attracts people to watch the Super Bowl, what I liked the most this year were the commercials. For some people, that’s the only reason they like watching the football game in the first place. It’s one of the reasons I watch every year other than to see who wins. Some of the commercials didn’t keep my attention, but there was something I noticed this year I missed in year’s past. Several commercials were presented in Spanish. I was glad to see that. Here’s just one example of one of the commercials that had music playing in Spanish as the soundtrack.
One of these many commercials featured a group of residents from a retirement home. The start of the commercial for Taco Bell shows a nurse putting a patient to bed and saying, “Goodnight.” The patient says “Goodnight” and then hops out of bed, sneaks out with his friends and hits the town. All are clearly in their 70s and 80s and are partying like they’re in their 20s. It was hilarious. Music as we all know is a powerful thing. Picture the above scene with the following chorus sung in Spanish in the background:
“Tonight,
We are young
So let’s set the world on fire
We can burn brighter
Than the sun.”
The song is written by a group called FUN. Well, the seniors in the commercial definitely looked like they were having fun. They probably had a lot of fun shooting the video because for that night they were young again. Advertisers could have easily gone mainstream and had the song played in English but the choice to do it Spanish made it better, in my opinion, and showed an embracing of diversity.
More than 108 million people watched the Super Bowl this year. The game actually comes in third place on the list of most-watched television events in U.S. history, according to “Media Reports.” In 2011, 111.3 million viewers tuned in to watch the New York Giants and the New England Patriots battle in the Super Bowl. With that much attention paid to a single event, it’s important advertising or any presentation be inclusive while being entertaining. I was glad to see that reflected beyond the football field this year.