What I learned from football ads

I like watching football. I think it shows people pushing the limits of what people can do, full of drama and excitement.

People keep respond with surprise when I tell them. Frankly, it never occurred to me that anyone didn’t enjoy watching football. At least among guys.

I was curious. Do I fit into the type who watches football?

So how do you find out who watches a show? You look at the ads. I noticed this year during the playoffs that few ads advertised anything I bought. In a typical game I’d see about a hundred ads and maybe two would connect with me — my cell phone provider and my credit card.

So I bet my friend during the Superbowl who would have fewer ads for products or services we spent money on. Our criteria was that if you spend any money with the company advertising, you got one point. The person with the fewest points won the bet.

Between the two of us, three ads advertised qualified. Three! Over $3 million per 30-second ad for $228 million total spent in 2011, so probably more this year, and three connected with us.

What did I learn? My interests diverge from the rest of this country’s more than I thought. I don’t buy cars, beers from those manufacturers, junk food, candy, soda, life insurance, or whatever else they advertised. Or at least I didn’t in the past year.

No wonder people are surprised I liked football. Apparently I don’t fit the demographic of even the most watched game.

Of course, many more people watch the Superbowl. With regular games a few more ads resonate. But that adds to what I learned. I differ that much not just with regular football fans. I differ that much with mainstream America.

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