Throwback Thursday: What Past Super Bowl Ads Said About the Economy

#TBT: On this Throwback Thursday, we can look at past Super Bowl ads to see where we’ve been, where we are, and perhaps, where we are going.

Past Super Bowl Ads

Apple 1984

It was 1984. Two recessions had recently ended with double digit inflation and high unemployment (1980 and 1981-1982). This legendary Apple ad let us know what was coming from the firm and from technology:

Pets.com 2000

Twenty years ago, before the dot.com crash, online retailer Pets.com was one of 17 dot.com companies with Super Bowl ads. The next year? Just three. Between March 11, 2000, and October 9, 2002 Nasdaq plunged from 5,046.86 to 1114.11:

Ameriquest 2005

A subprime lender, Ameriquest (unintentionally) displayed how they inflated the housing bubble:

Chrysler 2011

Having started during the Great Recession (December 2007-June 2009), the auto industry bailout had not ended. Still, Chrysler let us know that the U.S. auto industry and Detroit had returned:

Our Bottom Line: Price

As economists, we know that price conveys a message. So, let’s conclude with some prices and then 2020 ads. Quite a jump from last year, the current 30 second high is close to $5.6 million:

And these were the top five Super Bowl spenders in 2019:

Now, reflecting 2020, we have Facebook buying a Super Bowl ad for the first time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdKvGBhaMWI

Expressing its concern about sustainability, in its 60 second spot, Audi takes us to Frozen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=40&v=WvEAklsAAts&feature=emb_logo

Perhaps though Dashlane, also a 2020 newcomer, was the best:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=60&v=B5lslSPfhkg&feature=emb_logo

My sources and more:  Thanks to Quartz for giving me the economic springboard for this post. Then, marketingdive and Kantar Media had the up-to-date ad facts. Parts of today’s post were in a past Super Bowl econlife.