Ive been hearing commercials in these parts about winning tickets, trips, new tvs, to attend or watch the Sooperbowl.
Several different commercials they are, and they all avoid using the term uperbowl (with a capital S in front). What gives?
Why can`t they actually say the name of the event?
They merely get around it by using terms like “upersay olbay” or saying the actual word but with a bleep somewhere in the word.
I have avoided the actual word myself here because I dont want the NFL suing me for saying Sewperbowl. And Im trying to get the point across.
Are these commercials trying to be clever or is there some NFL B.S. that says they have rights to the word and no one else can use the term? This would seem ridiculous, that you cant help the NFL advertise an event by actually using the proper name of the event. Superbowl, Superbowl, Superbowl, There now Ive said it. Come after me!
I don’t know the leaglities behind it, but it does appear that you cannot use the term “Super Bowl” to promote your own goods or services, like big screen tvs for your “football parties.” I used to work for a home shopping network and when we gave away a trip to the Super Bowl, we called it “The Big Game” (which the XFL came along and used too.)
Being said I think that the radio spot for Dean’s Dip is Super, like a Bowl of Dean’s Dip. It both explains why they can’t say it, which normally makes a commercial sound stupid, and leaves you no doubt as to what game they’re talking about.
The NFL has registered the word Superbowl™ and they have decided that only those that pay a fee to the NFL can use the term Superbowl™ in there advertising. A DJ from a Seattle sports radio station has challenged the NFL on this after he received a letter from the NFL telling him he could not call a party at a sports bar a Superbowl™ party. When the commercials for the party now play, a chipmunk voice plays over the word Superbowl™ with toilet bowl.
I would be willing to bet that official sponsors of the event are allowed to use the name in connection with their product or with their sponsorship of the event (“Pepsi, proud sponsors of the Super Bowl,” etc.), but that others are barred from doing so in order to prevent confusion as to who the sponsors are and who is just capitalizing on the event (“Watch the Super Bowl on your new big screen TV from Best Buy,” etc.). “NFL B.S.”? That’s one way to look at it. Another way would be to say they own the rights to the term and have both the right and obligation to see to it that it is used only in accord with their wishes. That’s what you get when you register a trademark.
WAG quotient of this reply: 6%, with 1% after touchdown
In like manner, some corp was running ads during the most recent Winter Olympics showing actors dressed in competition ski suits but the ad never referenced the olympics directly. They were trying to appear as a sponsor without actually paying the IOC a dime.
Think about when “the king of beers” had the “BUD BOWL”. They never mentioned the Super Bowl…just the Bud Bowl. Although they could have legally mentioned the Super Bowl they probably did not due to the fact that Miller Lite was the “Official Sponser” and did not want to get into any needless “tiffs” with Miller. Just an opinion.
I think I my " key is worn out.
[further hijack] Yeah, the Kentucky Fried Chicken/KFC thing is kinda like how Federal Express is now just FedEx. Though if you look at some of their trucks, they’re labelled ‘FedEx Express’. Huzzah for redundancy [/further hijack]