A bit of Americana

Last Sunday, about half of all homes in the United States sat down to watch America's biggest sporting event of the year: The Superbowl. This is the final game that decides the year's best NFL football team.

But not everyone who watched the game was interested in football. A lot of people were more interested in the commercials. Yes, the commercials. With so many people watching, Super Bowl commercials have become a very big deal. There are websites and videos and TV shows dedicated to analyzing the year's Super Bowl commercials. The best ones get awards and everyone talks about them for a few days following the game.

So with so much attention given to them, commercials have to be entertaining; or funny; or shocking; or exciting - they need to grab our attention. Companies who want to advertise during the Super Bowl have to pay $4,500,000 (four and a half million dollars) for just a thirty second ad. It's a crazy number. It's a lot of money. And with so much money and pressure, Super Bowl commercials can resemble short movies.

Here's a Super Bowl ad that has the feel of a movie: