Waste of the Day: Expensive Super Bowl Ad Puzzled Viewers

Topline: The best Super Bowl commercials become an essential part of American pop culture, but even the mediocre ones are at least effective in advertising a product.

A Super Bowl ad for the 2010 Census?

Taxpayers would be forgiven, though, if they were left confused by an ad for the U.S. Census in 2010. The federal government spent $2.5 million for the 30-second commercial, but the ad’s odd marketing techniques likely did not boost participation in the Census.

That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these reports shined a white-hot spotlight on federal frauds and taxpayer abuses.

Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, earned the nickname “Dr. No” by stopping thousands of pork-barrel projects using the Senate rules. Projects that he couldn’t stop, Coburn included in his oversight reports.

Coburn’s Wastebook 2010 included 100 examples of outrageous spending worth more than $11.5 billion, including the price of the Super Bowl commercial — which would cost $3.6 million today.

Key facts: The 30-second commercial aired during the third quarter of the game, and it’s easy to see why it bumfuzzled viewers and politicians.

The commercial never asked viewers to fill out the Census and never told them when the deadline was. Instead, a group of actors discuss an unrelated topic in what appears to be a poor attempt at dry humor.

It got PANNED!

Media critics did not get the joke. Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, which grades Super Bowl commercials every year, gave the ad an “F.”

Entertainment Weekly ranked the ad as one of the worst of the night and wrote, “How weird to hire all those funny character actors, then accidentally air an unfinished version of a commercial that left us all wondering what the frak we just watched!”

The government spent $133 million advertising the 2010 Census, with other marketing tactics including a “Census Road Tour” that sent decorated cars to NASCAR races, a Chinese New Year celebration and more. The goal was for each American to hear about the Census 42 times.

Officials defended the cost by claiming the ad would save money in the long run. If more people filled out the Census, they said, less money would be spent hiring temporary workers to seek out those who didn’t respond.

However, participation in the 2010 Census was nearly identical to the one in 2000.

Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com.

Summary: Perhaps federal bureaucrats should occupy themselves with consuming nachos and pizza during the Super Bowl like the rest of America, instead of finding new ways to waste money.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.