Article: Super Bowl an ad fest

Ages ago, when consumers were still known as people, the Super Bowl was a sports event.

Then Master Lock shot a bullet at a lock on a commercial during the 1974 game, and things changed. The Master Lock ad, putting a brand logo front and center in a blunt, right-between-the-eyes campaign, ran more or less unchanged for the next 21 Super Bowls.

Slowly, the ads evolved into minimovies with escalating production budgets to match. Fans started voting on commercial favorites, and the buzz surrounding the spots gave them an afterlife.

By the time Apple introduced its Macintosh with the brilliant, cinematic "1984" commercial by filmmaker Ridley Scott, the advertising was watched as closely as the ...

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