Suddenly, a naked breast appeared on the screen. America was not ready for something like that

Before Cincinnati Bengals from Los Angeles Rams will face on Sunday night, fans in Poland often prepare a special “bingo” card. It is a collection of coupons that must always appear in the media when the most important match of the year in the USA is approaching. There is advertising prices and gallons of beer and tons of fried chicken wings eaten, and a musical show during the break, and a hymn before the game, and even a mockery of TVP, and this time preparing material about the Super Bowl , they forget to inform who will take part in the grand finale.

Sport has conquered America like war

Football fans in Poland, and there are more and more of them, are annoyed by the fact that so much is said in the Polish media about the surroundings of this event, and so little about the sport itself. Well … She decided to make such a bombastic product out of her finale.

Football fans, however, need to be given back what hardly anyone recalls, what the Super Bowl says – the gigantic popularity of this match results from the phenomenon of sport, of which it is the most important event. If the Americans weren’t crazy about football, there wouldn’t be the marketing frenzy at the Super Bowl. Really more so-called Unique viewers in the US watch NFL regular season games rather than Super Bowl games.

Even the Americans cannot fully explain this phenomenon. There are theories, for example, that football has become so popular because it reflects the American spirit and historical experience. It is a substitute for a war for territory, because every action is about moving the ball deep into the enemy’s territory, euphemistically called a rival in sport. And for this territory Americans fought from the dawn of their history. First with the British, then with the indigenous peoples, and then with Mexico and Spain.

The NFL itself is a combination of football and war, it cultivates. The anthem before each match in the USA is after all a manifestation of support for American soldiers serving abroad. This tradition began during World First baseball leagues. Then it was continued during the Second World War and became a permanent part of the sports event program after it. During the Vietnam War, the then head of the NFL league, Pete Rozelle, established regulations according to which during the anthem, players should maintain a dignified attitude: stand without helmets on their heads and without rubber in their mouths.

The contemporary chosen nation has its own original sport

Rozelle was himself a war veteran. He served in the Pacific Navy in 1944-45. It was he who made the ties between football and the army even more close. Since 1968, it has become a tradition that US air force planes fly over the stadium before the match. It looks very effective and could cost an American taxpayer up to $ 4 million if you take into account not only the flight itself, but also preparations for it.

In 1970, during a break in the Super Bowl, even the 1815 Battle of New Orleans of the Anglo-American War was reconstructed. The show ended with a flop, however, and the idea was not revisited anymore. But the NFL still invokes US military patriotism, honoring veterans and inviting generals to take the traditional toss of a coin in front of the Super Bowl.

And since Americans believe that their patriotism is something unique in the world, their football must also be something special. In a sense, they feel like a contemporary chosen people, and the phrase “I live in the best country in the world” can be heard from the lips of an American, regardless of the political option and skin color.

Football is part of this sense of national uniqueness, because for many years the rest of the world has been something completely alien. European mockery that football, or football, should not be played with hands, nobody in the USA cares about. And honestly, rightly so. Folk games that gave rise to both football and American football,. A stuffed pig’s stomach was worn more often than kicked, especially since a large number of players were barefoot. According to historians, the very term “foot” in football refers to the size of the ball (the foot is the English unit of measurement – 30.48 cm), not the way it is moved.

How football conquered America in the late 1960s and early 1970s

But there is one weak point in all these considerations of linking football with American patriotism and militarism. It became the undisputed No. 1 sport in the USA only at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s. Before that, baseball was the epitome of America. The explanation of this unusual passing is very simple. Football has proven to be a sport much friendlier to television than baseball.

From today’s perspective, it is funny that this potential of football was initially underestimated by the NFL bosses and the managers of television stations. Bert Bell, the NFL commissioner before Rozelle, believed that TV broadcasts would drive people out of the stadiums. On the other hand, the protracted game of the New York Jets – Oakland Raiders in 1968, whose broadcast was interrupted a minute before the end of the game, to broadcast the previously planned movie “Heidi” made history. The viewers were furious because the game was very emotional. They began making calls to television stations, newspapers and radio stations, and even to the police in New York. The satirist Art Buchwald, who led a humorous column in the Washington Post, wrote: “People who would not even be picked up by an earthquake from their seats rushed to their phones to shout insults.” But the viewers of “Heidi” were also angry. In the most touching moment of the film, when little Klara gets up on her own strength from the wheelchair, the message “Oakland Raiders defeated New York Jets 43:32” appeared on the screen.

The most famous garment failure in the history of sport

Fans in great numbers rushed to the phones once again. In 2004, during a Super Bowl concert, Justin Timberlake bared Janet Jackson’s breast, tearing off some of her clasped-on clothes. The Federal Communications Commission in charge of US broadcasting has received several hundred thousand complaints that nearly 100 million viewers watching the game on national television saw what they should not see at this time of the day.

“The whole thing has been disproportionately blown up,” said Janet Jackson, who returned to the Super Bowl 2004 event a few days ago in a documentary film about her life. – It was a mishap, of course. It shouldn’t have happened, but there is no need to look for the guilty now. Justin and I are good friends and we will always be.

Ultimately, the CBS station, which broadcast the match, was punished with the highest penalty in history – 550,000. dollars. The fine, though severe, was worth less than 8 seconds of advertising broadcast during the match. At that time, the 30-second spot cost $ 2.2 million. Another record will be broken this year. During the game between Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals you have to pay 7 million.

Marketers discover the Super Bowl and throw in a show to keep people from going to the kitchen

But the phenomenon of the Super Bowl as the best place to display an advertisement was also discovered by the market when the game was already an unofficial public holiday. The commercial for the Noxcema shaving cream turned out to be a breakthrough. Joe Namath and actress Farrah Fawcett starred in the 1973 spot.

Namath was the quarterback who led the New York Jets to a sensational victory over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. The Noxcema company took advantage of his popularity, which he discounted after defeating the Colts also outside of sport, to broadcast a Super Bowl advertisement in 1973 that would be talked about after the game.

In the ad, Namath makes a line that could be translated: “I’m so excited to be creamed.” However, these words are ambiguous, because “get creamed” can also mean wounded, mauled or even crushed. These words can be applied to football, where defenders – in Namath’s time more than today – want to hurt the opponent’s quarterback.

This was followed by other advertisers. The Super Bowl has become not only a sports event, but also a marketing one. The creators of advertisements try to present original spots during the match, which will then not only be remembered by consumers, but also spark discussions among them.

A half-time show featuring Dr. Dre, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige and Snoop Dogg are just a natural consequence of getting hooked on to a marketing match. It’s just a way for people not to leave their TVs during breaks to prepare a tea or snack. And it generally succeeded. The performances of Madonna, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, the duo of Jennifer Lopez and Shakira and Katy Perry warmed the audience and made history, although they lasted no longer than 12 minutes. All the stars performed for free, because the concert in front of 100 million pairs of eyes gave a promotion and a gigantic increase in the number of albums sold.

This year, the Super Bowl will be held at the world’s most expensive and modern SoFi Stadium in Ingelwood, Los Angeles. The stands will be 70 thousand. viewers. For the most expensive tickets, which can be resold on the open market in the US – those from the VIP category – now you have to pay as much as PLN 70,000. dollars per piece.