Arnold Schwarzenegger and free Bitcoin: Super Bowl ad frenzy is back

tech.hindustantimes.com:

After the bruising politics and pandemic grief that had clouded the American football championship, this year viewers are primed for a good time and offer advertisers a nearly unequalled mass audience. Big brands who in recent years have sat out the TV advertising frenzy around the biggest US sporting event -- the Super Bowl -- are returning in force Sunday and forking out millions for prime spots. After the bruising politics and pandemic grief that had clouded the American football championship, this year viewers are primed for a good time and offer advertisers a nearly unequalled mass audience. Budweiser's clydesdale horses, Arnold Schwarzenegger flogging BMWs as Zeus and a Lay's potato chips trip down memory lane with comedian Seth Rogan and actor Paul Rudd will all be there - Bitcoin too.

"The Super Bowl is a completely unique advertising property in that it can reach still 100 million consumers," said Charles Taylor, professor of marketing at Villanova University.

The game and probably more importantly its ads, which have spawned widely-used catch phrases and cultural symbols in the United States, are an American phenomenon.

"It's such a pop culture event in the US that people pay heightened attention to it," Taylor added.

This year's crop is thick with jokey, celebrity-heavy pitches for everything from beer to bitcoin, and will include some notable returns.

It's only been a year off for Budweiser and the clydesdale horses synonymous with the brand that chose to stay away from the festive event as America crossed its darkest pandemic days.

This year's spot, directed by Nomadland's Chloe Zhao, is a patriotic tale that features one of the draft horses making a post-injury comeback.

But Lay's and fellow Super Bowl ad returnee