Assistant professor Paula Storrer rates the commercials for Super Bowl XLVII between the Ravens and 49ers on an iClicker, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013, at the house of advertising instructor Robert Kolt in Haslett . Justin Wan/The State News
“Oohs” and “aahs” echoed through the south-end basement of Case Hall as more than 30 MSU students watched a long pass down the field be completed, signaling the biggest day in the U.S. for sports.
Super Bowl XLVII started Sunday evening with MSU students, faculty and staff celebrating and enjoying the game in many different ways, including Case Hall residents gathering in the media lounge.
“We decided to do one event per month, and it was our turn so we decided to have a Super Bowl party,” said James Madison freshman Colin Jackson, who put on the event.
“We actually had a lot of people show up, at least when the food was here.”
The lounge viewing party featured students playing water pong and snacking on Buffalo Wild Wings and Cottage Inn pizza.
The event, at its peak, had around 30-40 people in attendance, Jackson said.
Advertising freshman Margaux Forster attended the event with a goal of snagging some free food and watching the game with some friends.
“All my friends were coming down,” Forster said. “I like it, but we missed the food. The food went in 10 minutes.”
The Super Bowl has grown through the years into an all-day event, with coverage ranging from sunrise to sundown.
This year’s match up pitted the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers. While the event has grown to new heights from the first-ever Super Bowl in 1967, not everyone engages in the event just by watching the game.
With ads averaging between $3.7 and $3.8 million, advertising for the game is critical for businesses, and Robert Kolt, an instructor for the Department of Advertising, Public Relations, and Retailing, celebrates the big game by rating these million-dollar investments.
For the 16th straight year, Kolt welcomed the advertising faculty and staff to his home in Haslett, Mich., to rate the commercials displayed from kickoff to the final snap.
“We always got these calls involving Super Bowl ads so we said, ‘Maybe we should watch the game together and rate the ads together,’ and it just grew into what is now,” Kolt said.
The group of faculty ranked the commercials with the same type of iClickers students use in the classroom to keep up with real time.
The commercials-rating event has grown during the years and has started to reach national attention from some media outlets, Kolt said.
Kolt’s event featured typical party favorites with pizza, chips and drinks for the guests. But when the game paused and the commercials came on, it was strictly business, making Kolt and the rest of the staff a little bit different from the rest of the country.
“When the game is on, we’re talking, and when the ads are on, were working,” Kolt said.
“We’re a little bit different from the public — we’re all business during commercials.”
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