Since Green Bay and Kansas City played the first Super Bowl 40 years ago, Super Bowl Sunday has become an unofficial national holiday with shopping and economic effects that are on par with those of Christmas, Thanksgiving, and other major official holidays. In 2006, 125 million Americans celebrated the Super Bowl in some way, whether it was a simple get-together with a few friends or a fancy, catered party. Even people who don't care much about football join in, if only to watch the commercials.
Advertisers know that the Super Bowl is a unique chance to show off their products and services, so they don't skimp on spending. During Super Bowl XL in 2006, advertisers paid up to $2.5 million for every 30 seconds of advertising. All year long, advertising agencies work on their ads, and the Super Bowl has become the unofficial Oscars of advertising. There are almost as many websites and TV shows that talk about the ads as there are that talk about the game itself.
Super Bowl Sunday is also good for the food and drink business. Americans prepare and eat almost as much food on Super Bowl Sunday as they do on Thanksgiving. In the weeks before Super Bowl XL, Americans spent $55 million on food for their Super Bowl parties and ten million hours making it. Since each Super Bowl party is thought to have an average of 17 people, these numbers don't come as a surprise.
The avocado is the best Super Bowl food. In the weeks before the Super Bowl, more avocados are sold than at any other time of the year. For Super Bowl parties, about 12 million pounds of avocados are bought and turned into guacamole. Since you need chips to eat guacamole, 15,000 tonnes of chips are also eaten. All that food needs to be washed down, so sales of soda and beer peak in the weeks before the big game.
Food and drink companies aren't the only ones who benefit. Party supplies like paper plates, cups, and plastic silverware cost millions of dollars. Also, electronic stores do well. After all, you need that big-screen TV to enjoy the game to its fullest. On the Monday after Super Bowl Sunday, even sales of antacids go up. That's for a good reason. People at the party will probably take 15 minutes to eat all of that carefully prepared food.
