Entertainment

COMMERCIAL APPEAL – IT’S THE ADS PEOPLE REMEMBER ABOUT THE SUPER BOWL

HARDLY anyone remembers who played in the 1984 Super Bowl.

Football fans were too transfixed by Apple ‘s now famous “1984 ” ad,,which introduced the Macintosh computer while thumbing its nose at entrenched rival IBM.

The Orwell-inspired spot shows human drones being addressed by “Big Brother ” on a giant TV when a woman dressed like an aerobics instructor and chased by troopers races past. She hurls a sledgehammer at the

screen,shattering it in defiance.

The Apple ad set a new standard for Super Bowl commercials.More than 20 years later, the creative and expensive spots are just as anticipated as – and sometimes better than – the actual game.

“They set the bar very high,” said Linda Kaplan Thaler,the head of New York ad agency Kaplan Thaler. “It was probably the most expensive commercial to date.No one had seen anything like that.”

With the Feb.5 kickoff to Super Bowl XL around the corner,a new crop of advertisers is lining up in hopes of making it into the ad hall of fame.The television network CBS is jumping on board with a top 40 countdown to “Super

Bowl ‘s Greatest Commercials ” that will air Feb.4 (8-9 p.m.).

Apple ‘s “1984 ” is up against Coca-Cola ‘s “Mean Joe Green ” (1980)and Reebok ‘s “Office Linebacker ” ((2003)in a three-way competition for the top honor.

The Coke ad shows the gruff Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle softened by a young fan, while Reebok has Terry Tate sacking hapless office workers. The winner will be determined by an online poll.

For advertisers and their ad agencies planning Super Bowl spots,such media attention has added to the pressure.The ads are rated,scrutinized and debated for years.

“You want to come out with your strongest stuff,” said Bill Bruce,executive creative director for BBDO New York and a Super Bowl ad veteran. “We just keep working and nuancing it and begging for extensions until the very end.”

The game draws some 90 million viewers,making it not only the biggest sporting event but the biggest television event.This year advertisers are paying a record $2.5 million for a single 30-second spot. The current roster of advertisers includes old standbys such as Anheuser-Busch ‘s Budweiser, General Motors,Aleve (with pitch man Leonard Nimoy),Pepsi,but there are also some new and surprising entrants that illustrate the game ‘s broad appeal.

Dove is sure to stand out with an ad that tries to build self-esteem in young girls by “broadening the definition of beauty,” while Toyota plans to break new ground with a bilingual ad for its new Camry aimed at Hispanics.

“There will no doubt be an element of surprise,” Philippe Harousseau,the U.S.brand director for Dove. “The viewers are not expecting to hear an ad for self-esteem during the Super Bowl.” Ad execs say there is no formula for a Super Bowl spot,but there are some constants.Most advertisers aim to tickle the funny bone because it ‘s easy to get to the

punchline in a 30-second spot.

Celebrities,chimps and Clydsdales always seem to make an appearance.Monkey ads are so common that ad execs groan at the mere mention of it.

“I ‘ve noticed the monkey trend,” said ad exec Kaplan Thaler. “Personally,I think there will be a monkey backlash.”

SUPER BOWL’S GREATEST COMMERCIALS

Saturday, 8 p.m., CBS