In looking at the Super Bowl, I was glad to see the return of comedy. It’s OK to laugh again—even though there were some serious Super Bowl spots that kind of talked about or referenced 9/11.
The importance of comedy, I think, was underscored in the campaign we recently debuted for Terminix. When we were presenting the ideas to Terminix, the client asked us if it would be okay to do comedy at this time.
We responded by looking back at what Hollywood did during World War II. We found that Hollywood released more comedies at that time than it did just prior to the war.
Why? People simply were going to comedies because that’s what they wanted to see. They appreciated the diversion. It was a way to stop thinking about the serious, dour things going on. Humor gave them a human release.
Even though these are very dramatic and challenging times, we still need to laugh. We need distractions once in a while.
In many ways, that’s a more honest approach than trying to tie in your advertising to Sept. 11. Some of the car companies were called to the mat for wrapping themselves in patriotism to sell cars, urging potential customers to "help America get back on the road." We have to be very careful when it comes to these kinds of approaches. The public gets smarter every day. We have to take care that our message is honest, clear, and not deceptive. Consumers see through that very quickly.
As for the Super Bowl, my favorite spots were for Quizno’s and Yahoo! In the Quizno’s taste test, the only way a regular sub sandwich could beat Quizno’s would be if you shot the person being tested with a blow dart, leaving her laid out and pointing to the regular sandwich as if it had been her choice. And I really liked the Budweiser spot with the hawk, and the one with the satin sheets. Again, laughter breaks through.
