Super Bowl is the most-watched television program of the year. Last year alone, over 141 million viewers tuned in. The top ten most watched TV programs in history are all Super Bowl games. As a result, advertisers go all-out for their game-day spots, making the commercial breaks nearly as entertaining as the game.

There is a lot of competition to stand out from the crowd and grab the viewer's attention, so even though Pepsi is one of the biggest sponsors of the game, they will be giving away a one-of-a-kind Pepsi can that is sure to make people sit up and take notice. It is worth $100,000.

The can is encrusted with diamonds and is made of sterling silver. Anyone interested in entering the sweepstakes for a chance to win it can get a code online and wait to see if it is announced during the halftime show.

Giving junk food the same status as the TV programs that are deemed to be unsuitable for young audiences, the UK Food Standards Agency said that a ban on televised junk food ads before 9pm might be the most effective way to combat the childhood obesity epidemic. This was proposed as being a more feasible alternative than potential junk food ad regulations proposed by the television watchdog group Ofcom.

Ofcom offered three proposals. One was to ban all food and drink ads from children's programming and one only applied to ads for foods high in fat, sugar and salt. Their final suggestion called for limits on the number of ads that could be shown. FSA felt that these would be difficult to enforce or, as in the case of the first suggestion, did not allow for ads featuring healthy foods to be shown.

The FSA's proposal seems more likely to have an effect, due to its rather drastic nature, and consumer health groups have already given it a lot of support. Whether it comes to pass remains to be seen, but it doesn't seem like they considered the most obvious way to combat childhood obesity: get kids away from the TV and encourage them to be more active.

In the world of food advertising, it sometimes seems like the ads go from bad to worse, though there will be the occasional good one thrown in to keep the audience - that would be us - on our toes. I heard about this billboard at AdJab and when I first saw it, I had to do a double take: it is a giant, fake Cadbury bar being ripped apart by fake people. The giant-sized candy may be fake, but it looks absolutely delicious and the enthusiasm of the little, artificial people is quite funny. The ad is definitely more compelling than a simply picture of the chocolate bar would be. The billboard is in Canada, but if I have to look at billboards while I'm driving, I don't think that I'd mind seeing one of these once in a while.

With people being ever more likely to check the nutritional information on a product before they eat it, these ads mentioned at AdJab, are meant to point out that not everyone has access to the nutritional information of what they're eating. In this case, the ads refer to the homeless. The idea behind the sticker is that it contains the nutritional information for one "can" of food, with a message at the bottom to "help the homeless." The url that it gives does not actually exist, but it's an interesting way to present the message.

I would say something snarky about how that nutrition label would have to be revamped if it appeared on a bin outside of, say, a fast food joint, but feeding the hungry and/or homeless is nothing to joke about.

[Image AdArena]

Nika, of Nika's Culinaria, was at the international Boston Seafood Show last month and managed to grab a few shots of the enormous variety of fishy displays that were on display there, including one of the weirdest cars I've ever seen: a catfish car. The car is either the mascot for or an ad for American Pride Seafood's farm-raised catfish. The company has a strong dedication to raising high-quality catfish, but to want to drive it around? There's just a little something fishy about that. Check out the full post for more photos of the car, including a few shots of its tail and fins.

I miss the Cadbury bunny. This isn't the first time I've mentioned him, but I will repeat that the persuasive and adorable clucking bunny is one of the factors that made me want to purchase Cadbury Creme Eggs. How can you resist a treat that comes from the Easter Bunny, after all? It is even more difficult when you are an impressionable child and the cute bunny is offering you chocolate. This is an example of good food advertising (in all its retro glory), with a likable icon and a simple, tasty presentation of the product - a stark contrast to some of the disturbingly creepy ads that companies are using to promote their products nowadays.

The full commercial is after the jump.

We already know that creepy ads must sell more burgers, but can they sell candy, too? Skittles newest ad features a man with what appears to be a magical beard. The several foot long beard moves of its own accord, picking up Skittles and popping them into the mouth of the hirsute beard-owner. As disturbing as that image is, the worst it yet to come. The whole scene takes place during a job interview and when the man doesn't get the job, his beard feeds the woman interviewing him a Skittle and then strokes her face. The image of a mangy, hairy mass feeding Skittles to a woman is, quite unfortunately, now imprinted onto my brain. Good job, Skittles. This ad beats out the creepy king ad.

The entire video of the commercial is after the jump.

Dannon's new yogurt, Activa, contains a special bacterial culture known as Bifidus Regularis that helps to regulate the digestive tract. To help promote their new product, and perhaps to locate potential markets for this breakfast-food-come-Milk of Magnesia-competitor, Dannon commissioned a survey to determine the most irregular cities in America. The survey defined irregularity as not going to the bathroom for two or more days and found that the ten most irregular cities are:

1. Orlando, FL
2. Memphis, TN

As far as I understand it, the purpose of advertising is to sell more products, not to frighten the customers. Unfortunately, Burger King's advertising department does not seem to have gotten this message. During the Super Bowl yesterday, Burger King unveiled a new, multi-million dollar ad featuring its skin-crawlingly creepy, plastic-headed mascot, the King. As though his mere presence was not enough, the commercial consisted of women dressed as the salad toppings on a hamburger - lettuce, onion, tomato, etc. - dancing around before being rather unceremoniously tossed into a pile which, coincidentally, managed to resemble a hamburger. The "tasty and eye popping" women/toppings are ogled by the king during and after the formation of the "burger."

Creepy, sexist and, no doubt, offensive to more than a few people, does Burger King really see an increase in sales after airing ads like this? I would prefer to see a commercial that showed the actual food product, not a strange Whopperette version of it.

You can view the whole ad, if you are so inclined, at Adjab.

[Image from Adjab]