More Reality TV Coming

So now we have midgets (sorry, what is the PC term?) pulling airplanes, marriages between random strangers, and people eating animal body parts to win a million bucks. And more coming our way as this article explains that reality television is simply representing human behavior that has been around forever. We are simply not hiding it anymore. Do we really want to un-hide it? Some things are better left in the darkness
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Don Hewitt to Leave 60 Minutes

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. I mean the guy is 80. Nothing against the olfder generation but perhaps it is time. Hewitt will step down in June and be replaced by Jeff Fager who is currently executive producer of 60 Minutes II
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Superbowl Highest Ratings Since 1998

Despite the lackluster commercials and a one sided game, this years Superbowl had the highest ratings since 1998
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Some Superbowl Advertisers Forgot About Their Web Sites

Seems some advertisers forgot about what might happen if, say, 20 million people try to go to your web site all at once. Cadillac's site suffered but Levi's did not. CBSNews reports a Keynote Systems study that ranked how responsive each site was during the game.
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Rance Crain on the Miller Beer Ad

He doesn't like the Catfight ad and he makes some good points as to why it may not achieve much in the way of brand building for Miller.
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Fox to Launch Some Series in Summer

Faced with a full months interruption in programming because of commitments to baseball, Fox plans to launch some Fall series earlier this year hoping to build a stronger base and stave off losses caused by the month long baseball playoffs. In the past, Fox says this baseball hiatus has hurt new show's chances since they air only a couple of weeks prior to the baseball playoffs or they don't launch until November. By starting shows in July, the prevailing logic assumes viewers will have time become more involved in the shows an therefore come back after the hiatus. [via Media Daily News
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US Ad Spending Up 3.3% According to CMR/TNS

According to a CMR/TNS report, overall ad spending will be up 3.3% in 2003. Most growth will occur early in the year and will be lead by Spanish Language TV (9.3% growth) and the Internet (7.4% growth. [via eMarketer]
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A More Official Superbowl Ad Review

Here's the more professional review of the Superbowl ads. As opposed to my simple minded review below.
And you can review them here courtesy of Ad Age.
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Spot By Spot Superbowl Ad Thoughts

UPDATE: Here's what viwers thought
[See most of the spots here]
Budwiser Clydsdale Replay Spot - Lame
Pepsi Twist - Cheesy...nice Florence Henderson appearance though.
FedEx 'Castaway' - Ingenious
Hulk - I'll go see it but Hulk looks WAY too animated.
Bud Lite Fridge - Funny but standard
Dodge - Not very original.
Matrix - He can fly? Looks Fake. Of course I am going to see it.
Gatorade - MJ and himself? I thought it would be better.
Sports Center - Bling Bling? Is that supposed to be cool?
H&R Block Willie - Great!
Bud Light Clown - Dumb
Visa - Yo Yo Yow Yea! Good.
The Antidrug - Compelling
Bud Lite Reggae - Nothing Special.
Monster - Good but not as good as last years.
Sierra Mist - Humorous. I liked it.
Hanes - Typical Jackie and MJ. I was hoping this one would be better.
Youth Smoking Prevention - Typical heartstring spot.
Alias Promo - I'll be watching that!
[Where are the breakout commercials?]
Sierra Mist 2001 - Finally! A good one!
Bud Lite Beach Babes - Gross (crab on the guys face)
Bad Boys II - Bigger Badder
Budweiser Think Fresh - Intruiging
Levis Type I - Original although not all that inspiring.
ATT MLife Gilligan - Cute
Coors Light - I do like beer babe spots:-)
ATT Wireless Half Time Show - So standard. Of course, last years all Bono post 9/11 halftime show won't be outdone any time soon. Still, with the potential for pending war and other important world issues, this show could have been so much more.
Diet Pepsi Mosh - Did they say 'masturbate' in that spot?
HotJobs - Original. Better than Monster's this year.
Bud Light Fat Ass - Excellent! And so true....so make sure you check your girlfriend's Mom out.
Subway - Jarod is famous now even though he is a bad actor.
Charlies Angels - Oh yea...seein' that!
Cadillac - Great concept but don't you think the old cars looked so much better than the new ones?
Knowledge AntDrug - The pregnancy one...powerful.
George Forman Grill - Standard
Reebok Terry Tate - Great! Don't you wish there was a guy like that kicking ass in your office?
Bud Light Third Arm - Hand on the ass...nice.
WB Mason - Sticks to their brand but blah!
Smirnoff Ice - Witty
Budweiser True - So true
Cadillac CTS - Nice execution. Ugly car.
Alias Promo - Yummy!
Sony - Very feel good
ATT Wireless (no wires) - right on point. Wires are disappearing.
Budweiser Designated Driver - Another standard spot
Visa History - I've run out of words. Their others were better.
AOL Broadband - Pretty good for wipping it together in a few days!
myfico.com - So plain and boring
Michelob Ultra - Kind of like a Soloflex ad.
[Tampa Bay intercepts]
[Tampa Bay intercepts again!]
Bud Light Aerobics - Pefect Guy spot.
Monster - Better the second time around.
Cadillac Running of the Bulls - Nice concept. Again, ugly cars.
PS2 - Loved it. Very timely.

All in all, I think it was a poor showing this year. No real standouts. The only standout didn't even run during Superbowl. It ran during Alias after the game. The spot? Yes, the Miller Lite Catfight spot.

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Bob Garfield Hates Breasts

In Bob Garfield's politically correct review of the Miller Light Cat Fight Advertisement, he says:

"This flimsy gambit to create the illusion of self-deprecation is as transparent as the Bikini Team creators' explanation of "parody" a decade ago. Has everyone forgotten how angry women were about that commercial?"

Sure this spot might be seen as demeaning but what about all the spots over the past 10 years that have portrayed men as clueless idiots? You know the ads where the husband is so stupid that he can't do this that or the other thing? How many men complained about that? None that I know of.

Bob, the spot is a joke! Get it? A joke. Ha Ha. Laugh Laugh. Have we all lost our sense of humor? Apparently so.

And is it really a breast fest? Only if you are in the ad industry and you view the spot over and over and over again on a huge screen. We've already seen the thing 30 times more than the average viewer ever will. Of course we are sick of it. Anyway, I didn't know there was a rule in advertising that states we can only use small breasted female models in our commercials.

Miller did a smart thing. They have created a PR windfall for themselves. They knew the spot would be controversial and here we are giving them all sorts of free publicity. Exactly what they intended to happen is happening.

We get way too uptight about stuff like this. It's just damn commercial for God's sake!

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