(NECN: Ally Donnelly) - More people than ever before are expected to watch this Sunday's Super Bowl matchup between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts -- more than 100 million people. Most who watch will be rooting for a favorite team, but almost as many will be watching the big game simply to see the commercials.
There are the classics...
The innovators....
And the ones that tickle your funny bone....
All crafted to keep you in your seats, when the Saints go marching to commercial break.
David Swaebe knows a thing or two about Super Bowl ads -- his firm, Mullen Advertising in Boston, had about six weeks to come up with a commercial for the job site Monster.com.
Another spot being talked about is one the press and public haven't even seen. It's an anti abortion ad by the pro life group Focus on the Family -- featuring Heisman winner Tim Tebow and his mom talking about her decision not to abort him when she got pregnant.
Local
CBS rejected an ad from the gay dating site ManCrunch.com
Will advocacy ads be the wave of the future? Pro Life, Pro Choice, gay marriage, no nukes? Will it change the tenor of the day for viewers? Fans we talked to say it's a mixed bag.
Schwaebe doesn't think so either. Most advocacy groups lack the funds to buy Super Bowl time. Experts say Sunday's ad rates are ringing in at 2.4 to 2.8 million dollars for 30 seconds of air -- apparently a bargain.
For the first time in decades Pepsi won't be advertising it's cola. GM is out and it's a no for FedEx again, Hundai's in. So's Boost and Dorito's
But don't be looking for any think pieces like Apple's 1984 ad playing off of George Orwell's novel 1984...Schwaebe says the trend is less sage...more sophomoric.
Psyched for Sunday.
