How Justice League, Prison Break missed huge opportunity with Super Bowl ad
Super Bowl ads are important. While viewers love the game, some wait until the commercials just to see who ranks among the best and worst. 2017 was no different as many companies looked to put their best foot forward with a $5M for a 30-second spot in hopes of either selling product or gearing interest toward a movie or TV show. I’m not here to trash any ads that went on Sunday night but to speak about two companies that literally dropped the ball during the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl may be the one sporting event where the entire world is watching. It’s not the NBA Finals or the Wold Series where you have the possibility of seven games, it’s one and done. What made this one so big was the fact that for the people who didn’t tune in, they were called, texted or emailed about the history that was going down and told to tune in.
[Mark]The game may go down as the greatest Super Bowl ever with the Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots playing in the first ever OT which would have made a sub-par ad even more desirable.
The Super Bowl is aired on FOX, meaning they are the ones that get paid for each ad. What they are allowed to do is air whatever they want, and with the network geared towards TV they had the opportunity to showcase their own shows. While they did do numerous ads for Marvel’s Legion and 24: Legacy they failed miserably when it came to the biggest show set to premiere this year, Prison Break.
Prison Break is set to air on FOX after a six-year hiatus on what was one of their most successful shows. The fans wanted the return of the show that ended so abruptly and awkward that FOX had no choice but to offer up at least another season of Michael Scofield and company. There have been trailers outlining the show but what better way then to make a proper reintroduction to the world than a Super Bowl ad? The stage was set for a classic ad of Michael still being alive, and his brother and friends getting prepared for break him out. America has asked for this and FOX dropped the ball.
Another ad that was missing was DC Comics ad for either Justice League or Wonder Woman. Marvel did a quick one for the upcoming Logan film starring Hugh Jackman but where was DC? If DC is serious about gaining position in the superhero world then they must be willing to pull out all the stops. Wonder Woman is highly anticipated and so is Justice League but to not see either get an ad is mind-blowing, to say the least.
Wonder Woman is the first to drop so a quick 30-second trailer for that movie would have been huge. With Justice League set to hit theaters later this year a teaser would have set the stage for what could be a breakout year for the DC franchise. But they failed.
$5M is nothing to these big corporations. DC has the cash to throw away, and they may be kicking themselves after the finals ratings of 111.3M viewers were revealed. But FOX, they have no excuses. It’s their show and they could have found 30-seconds for Prison Break instead of doing 3-4 ads for 24.
Great game but the ads sucked.
Mark has been covering Sports and Entertainment for the past six years. His work has been featured on Bleacher Report, ESPN, Fox Sports, Teen Vogue, and many other websites.
