THE SUPERBOWL! To many this quintessential corporate pageant represents the glitz and extravagance of capitalist America. With logos everywhere and slogans galore, the nation's sports enthusiasts inadvertently are bombarded, from scores of commercial plugs to overt advertising. And all of this before the first commercial break! The complete commercialization of the Super Bowl has sucked the marrow from America's most-watched sports contest and threatens to supplant the game's competition and athleticism. Despite an attempt to tone down the event in reverence to the post-terrorist-attack cultural revolution, this year's event was no exception.
The barrage of product images and creative advertising campaigns began long before kickoff. Announcer Pat Summerall began the garish parade of hackneyed pretentiousness when he declared: "Tonight we celebrate more than football. We celebrate freedom as well." There were shots of NFL players reciting excerpts from historic speeches, a cliched attempt to link the glitzy pageant with patriotism. The tasteless self-importance of the perennial spectacle continued throughout the advertisements during game breaks. With digitally enhanced Budweiser horses visiting ground zero and an overabundance of ads incorporating some symbol of national pride, it was obvious that the corporate ad wizards were eager to link their product to the patriotic fever that Americans have embraced. For shame.
Then there is halftime. Herein lies the most interesting paradox of the entire pageant. What pop musician could possibly play the centerpiece role in this glorified capitalist extravaganza? Who could the promoters book that might succumb to the ultimate sell-out (in both senses of the word)? What true "musician" could perform in the sea of corporate images and materialistic extravagance? No, it wasn't Britney Spears, whose crossover to product promotion with Pepsi excites guys across the country, but of course she was never a real musician in the first place. No, neither ruthlessly promoted boy-band or trite MTV top-ten, pop-culture icon were featured. Surprisingly, the centerpiece performer, one familiar to arena performances, was none other than U2.
Bono, the group's lead singer, is curiously out of place in the melee of saleable lavishness. A champion of the voiceless third world and longtime critic of unrestricted globalization, Bono frequently has cashed in on his worldwide fame to broaden the anti-industrialization debate. The day before the Bowl, Bono joined a discussion at the World Economic Forum. Comically juxtaposed by software star Bill Gates, Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill and former Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo, wrap-around sunglass-clad Bono argued ways to improve financial situations in third world countries. Yet the next day the lyrics from "Where the streets have no name" were sung for thousands at the single largest American celebration of corporate glory.
Oddly, Superbowl promoters found patriotic inspiration in the ballads of a band as American as a tall mug of Guinness. What was the intention here? If patriotic inspiration was the goal, why not talk to Mellencamp or Springsteen? It is more than likely that most American pride icons within the music industry fret at being at the center of such an ostentatiously commercial event. U2's jingoistic display was deeply ironic and Bono's association with corporate advertising overtly hypocritical.
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Yes, his Star-Spangled Banner jacket liner and scrolling screen of lost victims from Sept. 11 were inspiring to many and certainly got a reaction from the crowd, but is a football halftime show really the place to make such statements? America, it is time to move forward and move on. Memorials and remembrances are important, and without a doubt we will see many. But a football championship is neither the time nor place. Let us be content with a football game that is simply that: a game. Take away the patriotic pageantry. Remove the barrage of corporate self-promotion.
Thanks go to the Saint Louis Rams and New England Patriots for finally returning an atmosphere of excitement and competition to the event. The athleticism and rivalry between the two throughout the game made for the first bowl in years where bathroom breaks were made during commercial breaks rather than during the game. Take away the ostentatious nationalism and the shameless commercial promotion that has infiltrated nearly every aspect of the game, and find a unique contest that engages a euphoric competitive spirit that lightens the reality of recent international events. Enough of the hype - let's enjoy a great game.
(Preston Lloyd's column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at plloyd@cavalierdaily.com.)
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