Satirical game plan for Super Bowl

THE Super Bowl broadcast is a showcase for American national sentiment. The $2m (£1.4m), 30-second advertising spots typically reflect the angst, hopes, hype and latest American social trends.

Advertisers say on target commercials that clearly demonstrate the product, but in a funny, irreverent way are likely to dominate next month's Super Bowl, as Americans try to put behind them September's terrorism, a stumbling economy and the war in Afghanistan.

What there will not be is the cool but incomprehensible dotcom commercials that cluttered the event in the late Nineties and left viewers wondering what the product was, who used it or how it could improve their lives.

As it turned out, the adverts of yesteryear unerringly reflected the lack of substance in the dot-bomb world.

The disappearance of hi-tech commercial cash means less money for News Corp's Fox Broadcasting network, which has cut pre-game advertising to five hours from 7.6 in 1999. Fox is also being squeezed by the Winter Olympics, which start less than a week after the Super Bowl.

Some companies are skipping the annual American Football party in favour of skiers and skaters in Salt Lake City, though Fox says it is up with the number of Super Bowl ads sold by CBS, which showed the game last year.

Patriotism will be a strong theme with advertisers this time, but it will be mixed with fun and 'hot bodies,' say media watchers. Slots with clever twists and 'edge' are returning to TV after a near-total hiatus following 11 September. Satire is back.

Southwest Airlines, Nextel Communications, Levi Strauss jeans and Land Rover are among those with hip, irreverent commercials currently running in prime time.

Such is the fanfare around Super Bowl ads that one company is making a game out of it. Levi, buying airtime for the second year in a row, is asking consumers to pick the ad it will run. The jeans maker's website is hosting a contest between three choices, Bull, Crazy Legs and Up & Down.

Crazy Legs, the current voter favourite, is an edgy, Latin themed street scene with a tornado of a dancer whirling down a busy urban intersection in Levi jeans. None of the ads has an American flag in them, nor is there sentimental music or the emotion-laden themes in such widespread use recently. 'Levi is an American icon brand name and we are letting people vote. What could be more symbolic of American patriotism than that?,' said a spokesman.

Levi said it may not know until the last minute which ad will win the coveted second-quarter spot because voting is shifting daily. 'We may get more of a competition on our Super Bowl ad site than there usually is at the game itself,' the spokesman said.

There is one internet stalwart that intends to make a play at the Super Bowl. E*trade said it will buy slots despite their high cost. It has survived the tough times and is not about to miss out on the most-watched TV event of the year. Ratings for commercials can be higher than the game itself.