Media releases

• Brock expert eager for ads on Super Bowl Sunday

  Thursday, February 10, 2022 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 10 February 2022 – R0017

  Super Bowl LVI will draw sports fans and music fans alike this Sunday, Feb. 13, but Brock consumer culture expert Derek Foster has his own reasons for tuning in.

  The Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film says the Super Bowl is truly fascinating for anyone interested in media and advertising.

  “With the ascendency of digital and social advertising and an increasingly fragmented media landscape, the Super Bowl is significant,” he says. “It has held onto its advertising clout even in the face of increasing media competition and scandals rocking the reputation of the game, but it also shows how advertisers leverage digital media and grow transmedia audiences.”

  Foster says the world’s fascination with Super Bowl commercials dropped into high gear after 1984, when Apple placed Apple Mac: 1984, a short film directed by Ridley Scott.

  “This was widely touted as changing the game — pun intended — and auguring an age of tuning in to the big game for not just the football or the halftime entertainment, but the commercial filler in between plays,” he says.

  By 2021, prestige ads filled 57 minutes of airtime during the game, and even with overall viewership of the traditional broadcast in decline, a 30-second ad slot in this Sunday’s game will cost up to US$7 million.

  Foster says to see the cultural impact of Super Bowl commercials, we need look no further than our own backyard, where legal disputes between the Canada Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and Bell Media over the rights of Canadians to experience American Super Bowl commercials during the broadcast made it to the Supreme Court.

  “The American broadcast on Canadian airwaves had long meant Canadian viewers missed out on a lot of the marquee advertisements, as the broadcast signal had traditionally been subject to the CRTC’s mandated policy of simultaneous substitution, requiring Canadian broadcasters to distribute local signals and support the Canadian advertising market,” he says.

  But in 2015, the CRTC recognized the ads had become “an integral part” of the Super Bowl and changed its rules.

  “For three years, Canadian broadcasting aligned with Canadian popular taste,” says Foster. “But Bell Media fought the ruling at the Supreme Court after seeing a decline in audience share and ad revenue for broadcasts on CTV and TSN, and they won.”

  Foster says the ruling has become “increasingly irrelevant” as more audiences move away from traditional broadcasts of the event. Last year saw the lowest Super Bowl ratings in 14 years.

  “Strategies to reach audiences are no longer limited to television and sometimes they exclude it altogether, engaging with audiences via digital platforms and other interactive channels,” he says. “Where people once upon a time tuned in to the game to check out the most expensive airtime of the year, today ads are frequently shared online early to build buzz — some even have teasers — and the ads become part of an overall marketing strategy that focuses increasingly on digital footprints.”

  Advertisers have taken note of studies showing that up to three-quarters of Super Bowl viewers use social media while watching, according to Foster. The NFL itself will air its own ads during the game to suggest that younger fans find them on Snapchat, and kids playing Fortnite can adopt skins for all 32 NFL teams.

  “So, we see some advertisers buying airtime but also creating digital campaigns, while others, such as State Farm, which only aired its first Super Bowl ad in 2021, announced this year it is bypassing the traditional on-air spot in favour of extending engagement beyond the one day by creating a #TeamStateFarm challenge on TikTok,” says Foster.

  More than anything else, Foster is looking forward to seeing if any of the ads this year take on a self-reflective quality.

  “I’m curious to see if they might lampoon the nature of Super Bowl advertising while also leaning in,” says Foster. “One of my recent favourites was the 2018 Tide ad that appropriated the tropes of stereotypical Super Bowl commercials to become both a masterful commentary on and example of the genre.”

  Brock University Associate Professor of Communication, Popular Culture and Film Derek Foster is available for media interviews leading up to and after Super Bowl weekend.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases

• Virtual event, weeklong display to remember missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people

  Thursday, February 10, 2022 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 10 February 2022 – R0016

  Red dresses will be hung throughout the campuses of Brock University and Niagara College next week to remember missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people.

  The REDress Project, an annual initiative that sees red clothing displayed in public spaces, began as an art installation by Métis artist Jamie Black at the University of Winnipeg in 2011. It has since been replicated in communities across Canada, including at Brock University and Niagara College in recent years.

  The empty red dresses are meant to signify the loss of thousands of Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit, lesbian, gay, trans, bisexual, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual (2SLGTBQQIA) people over the past 40 years to colonial violence.

  Robyn Bourgeois, Brock’s Acting Vice-Provost, Indigenous Engagement, and a team of volunteers will hang the dresses throughout the University’s main campus on Sunday, Feb. 13, where they will remain on display for the next week.

  A display of dresses from the Dramatic Arts wardrobe department at Brock’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) will also be set up at the downtown arts school as well as the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre (PAC) on St. Paul St. The MIWSFPA is partnering with the PAC on the initiative, sending seven red dresses that will be used by PAC staff to create a display in the Performing Arts Centre’s first-floor windows.

  Bourgeois said hanging the dresses on Brock’s main campus will be a very personal experience.

  “As someone who narrowly survived this violence, it’s excruciating to see these dresses hanging on campus,” she said. “It’s a painful reminder of how many Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people have been stolen from our communities. At the same time, I feel hope, because there was a time in the last 20 years when few people outside of Indigenous communities were aware of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

  “This annual event is the Brock community’s collective acknowledgment and commitment to addressing this violence. That’s significant.”

  In addition to encouraging people to hang red dresses where they can, Bourgeois and Brock’s Aboriginal Student Services team are also inviting the community to a virtual event Monday, Feb. 14 at 6:30 p.m. on Microsoft Teams.

  The panel discussion will include Bourgeois and Jennifer Moore Rattray, who served as Executive Director of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which delivered a final report and 231 Calls for Justice to the Prime Minister and Premiers in June 2019.

  There is no admission charge for the event, which requires advanced registration through Eventbrite, but donations will be accepted for Abbey House, a residence for Indigenous women who are experiencing crisis in their lives.

  Bourgeois said the panel will highlight the ongoing nature of the REDress initiative.

  “Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people continue to disappear and be murdered across this country,” she said. “Until this ends, we need to continue to demand justice and fight for our lives. The more people who are aware of this violence, the more likely it is that meaningful social change will happen.”

  Also in conjunction with REDress Day, Brock’s Schmon Tower will join Niagara Falls and be illuminated in red on the night of Monday, Feb. 14. Red dress earrings and keychains will also be available for sale in Brock’s Campus Store, with all proceeds going to Aboriginal Student Services.

  Lianne Gagnon, Niagara College Director, Student Services, said she was proud that Brock and Niagara College could partner on the REDress initiative.

  “It’s only by shining a light and providing information that we can take steps to expose the truth of the violence,” she said. “That’s why we feel it’s so important to educate our students and staff about the violence perpetrated against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, in the hope of eliminating it.

  “As post-secondary providers in Niagara, we are proud to stand with our partners at Brock and take a lead role in informing our communities to end the violence, and work towards a more diverse and inclusive future for all.”

  Bourgeois hopes that as non-Indigenous community members take in the displays and the virtual event, they will keep their Indigenous friends in mind and commit to working as allies going forward.

  “First, realize that most Indigenous women and girls you know have likely experienced some form — and likely multiple forms — of violence,” she said. “Believe them, acknowledge their trauma and hold space for them.

  “While Indigenous women and girls have been at the forefront of efforts to address this violence, we need non-Indigenous allies who will stand with us. We don’t need rescuing — we are strong and resilient. What we need are non-Indigenous folks willing to work with us to demand justice and end this violence.”

  Further information about the REDress project and registration details for the Feb. 14 virtual panel are available on Brock’s REDress website.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca or 905-347-1970 

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  Categories: Media releases