Super Bowl XLIII is this Sunday. This year’s game (between the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers for those not paying attention) might actually be interesting. But why should we in advertising care about the game? It’s the Super Bowl, people! And that means awesome new ads from big brands and maybe one from a small brand that’s blowing a bunch of VC money on a slot!

Or at least I thought that’s what the Super Bowl meant to ad people. But perhaps not so much this year.

“Surely, Mr. AdHole,” you proffer, “you jest.” I assure you, dear reader, I do not. Because this year it seems like an inordinate number of Super Bowl ads are already out there for public consumption. You can find Budweiser spots, Samsung mobile phone spots, CareerBuilder.com spots, Pedigree dog food spots, Toyota Corolla spots, Denny’s spots, GoDaddy.com spots (of course), and a PETA spot that NBC is refusing to air. I’m sure there are others, but I got tired of wasting time searching instead of wasting time on Facebook.

So what gives? What happened to The Big Reveal during the actual broadcast of the game? It’s not like these are sneak peeks at the spots. After all, they’re only 30- or 60-seconds long. Unless you’re showing me a 5-second clip, you’ve pretty much given away the farm.

And for what?

Well, I think I know what. Advertisers want something for the three million per 30-seconds they’re dropping for prime, game time slots. They want they’re spots to be remembered. And not just remembered, but remembered more than the other spots. Thus ensuring their high ranking on the all-important Ad Meter list from “USA Today.” (Don’t ask why the Ad Meter is important, just accept it and move on with life.) And to do that, they’ll stack the deck. Because if you see an ad online before seeing it on air, you’ll still consider that ad new. But, since you’ve already seen it, you’re more likely to remember it when the time comes to offer your sage opinion. It’s upping the frequency without killing the novelty. Frankly, I think it’s a bit disingenuous. I’d rather see a real teaser campaign that really builds up to something the equivalent of Apple’s “1984” Mac spot from, wait for it, 1984. But I won’t hold my breath.

Some of the spots I’ve seen (and I’ve decided to not watch anymore until the game) are quite good. So at least I’m assured of a little entertainment, if a little less anticipatory glee.

Later,

Fox