It’s the last minute of the game, and the Pittsburgh Steelers make it to the five-yard line. In the last 40 seconds, Santonio Holmes catches the pass that ends the game and leads the team to their sixth Super Bowl victory. Each year the Super Bowl is the number-one watched program on television. Millions of people gather in anticipation to see which team will go home as the champion. The game also attracts an audience that, although not die-hard football fans, anxiously watches the game in search for the best commercials of the year.

In 2005, consulting firm Penn, Shoen & Berland did a survey stating that 58 percent of the participants would rather miss a portion of the actual game than any of the Super Bowl commercials. First-year Kyle Ennis is not surprised by the results of the survey.

“There are dead moments in a game. The second and third quarters are sort of boring; the first quarter sets the pace for the remainder of the game and the fourth quarter is the last stretch,” Ennis said. “People usually get bored with commercials but the Super Bowl is different. They are all well done, which makes them awesome.”

Super Bowl XLIII has broken the record for advertisement sales. Thirty-second slots were sold for $3 million each, which is an 11 percent increase from last season, according to the Associated Press. This seems outrageous with the current situation the economy is in.

“Spending the money on a Super Bowl commercial is worth it; it’s the most viewed thing in the whole world,” senior Craig Walrath said. “For marketing purposes, it’s a very smart choice.”

Apparently many businesses agree with Walrath. The majority of the commercial slots were sold before September, only eight of the 67 remained, and this year the tone of the advertisements changed. According to The Wall Street Journal, companies moved away from the slapstick comedy and focused more on emotional connections with the audience.

“Right now, with what is going on with a new president and the economy crashing, we are taking things more seriously; things aren’t so funny anymore,” Ennis said. “The commercials are all good but it is dumb that we spend so much money, that’s one of the biggest problems with our economy.”

Companies took the recession into consideration this year and some incorporated it into their planning.

As a marketing strategy, Monster.com, an employment site, gave away a job with a $100,000 signing bonus.

Kellogg’s ran a commercial to announce their National Field Renovation Program. The focus of the advertisement is the idea of “planting a seed” so children can continue to be active and healthy.

According to USA Today, in the Super Bowl polls from the last 10 years, Anheuser Busch has had the best commercials, and this year their campaign focused on the majestic Clydesdales as opposed to humorous skits.

One Anheuser Busch advertisement told the legacy of one Clydesdale that had come to America from Scotland, and after failing at a number of jobs, he found a place with Busch, and every generation following him remained in the “family business.” The commercial is heart-warming in a sense, but also funny in many ways.

A company that kept their advertisements light was Coca-Cola. The soft drink company remade one of their hit commercials, “Mean Joe Greene,” from 1980; this season they used Steelers’ safety, Troy Polamalu. The commercial was a bit disappointing, and Coca-Cola tried too hard to be funny.

One of the night’s more humorous commercials was done by careerbuilder.com. The theme of the advertisement was unique and interesting. The narrator pointed out several scenarios that were indications that you needed a new job. One scene showed someone hating their job so much that they had the urge to punch small animals.

Careerbuilder.com did not, however, win the coveted title of best advertisement.

The companies that came out on top were Doritos and Bridgestone. Anheuser Busch received a spot on the list but audiences weren’t as impressed with their advertisements this year. Overall, viewers were indifferent about all the Super Bowl commercials.

According to Walrath, “There’s so much hype around (the commercials) that everyone watches and ends up being disappointed except for one or two ads.