On February 3rd, 2002, we ran the worst Super Bowl ad ever – on purpose.
A long time ago, in a retail landscape far, far away, we had this crazy idea for a Super Bowl spot.
The premise: We blew all the budget on the airtime, and left absolutely zilch for producing the commercial itself. That first part was absolutely accurate: Even though this spot only ran on the local FOX affiliate here in southern Oregon (KMVU FOX 26), it still cost…, well, it cost a lot. Like, budget-breaking, spreadsheet-crippling a lot.
But we wanted to give it a go, and arranged for a video shoot with a game FOX 26 crew. We shot it in our stockroom, throwing dead computer peripherals from a stepladder, and pulled in unwitting staff members as extras. The on-air “talent” was Connecting Point GM Jeff Thomas and Marketing Director Tom Pentland. The whole thing took roughly 15 minutes to shoot (at the most). During editing, the bilious fluorescent green and pink graphics were reluctantly added by some very skeptical pros in the FOX 26 video production department.
The result? What has to be one of the crappiest, ugliest, most unprofessional Super Bowl spots ever. It aired during the Big Game – Super Bowl XXXVI, in which the New England Patriots beat the St. Louis Rams 20-17 – on February 3rd, 2002. You’re welcome!
On the eve of the Super Bowl’s 50th anniversary, we thought it might be fun to revisit an earlier, more innocent time. Also, it serves as a sort of nostalgic snapshot of vintage computer gear, including the original “bubble back” iMacs. Enjoy.
