This Sunday, some people will actually watch the Super Bowl for the game. These people will hoot and holler at the screen, perhaps rooting for the lesser of two evils because their team was not fortunate enough to make the game.
I am not one of these.
While I enjoy the Super Bowl, I have always been there more for the food. That's not entirely honest. Most of my Super Bowl Sunday enjoyment stems from the commercials. However, the food is typically what makes it so that I am actually in a room where the game is on the screen. If it weren't for the food, I would miss the commercials as they were strategically revealed throughout the game; without the beckoning of the food, I would most likely end up perusing them later on via YouTube.
Originally, I enjoyed Super Bowl commercials simply because they were often well-done and witty. Since becoming a teacher, however, I have also looked at them with a critical eye for the classroom and considered them a type of digital literacy. Most years, there is at least one commercial that is applicable to the classroom in some way, like the Kia Optima "One Epic Ride" from a few years ago.
I recently came across these two resources that can help educators utilize Super Bowl ads more effectively in the classroom.
The first, Super Bowl Ads archive, is simply an easier way to browse past Super Bowl ads.
The second, Teach Media Literacy with Super Bowl Ads, is a blog post by Frank Baker (creator of the Media Literacy Clearinghouse) where he encourages teachers to look at these expensive commercials as persuasive digital texts. He includes some ideas for application to classrooms across the content areas (including thinking like an advertiser), but you can also view some more lesson ideas for close readings of digital texts at the MLC website here.
Other random Super Bowl ad resources:
*Ad Week's Super Bowl Ad Tracker
*USA Today's Ad Meter
Whatever draws you to the big game this weekend, have a good one! (And maybe take a few notes...)
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