As we head into Super Bowl LXIX weekend, I thought the following might be of interest.

Digiday posted a fun article entitled 5 Super Bowl Myths Debunked (http://digiday.com/brands/5-super-bowl-myths-debunked). Here’s what’s interesting from a brander’s perspective: (1) Super Bowl ads have higher recall than ads in general BUT (2) get them shown by 9PM eastern – most viewers have stopped watching by then!, and (3) sexy ads and celebrity ads don’t do as well as non-sexy, non-celebrity ads. But is it really worth the money to have a commercial on the show? Check out this story, also from Digiday, which shows how that same money might be spent in social media and other online venues (http://digiday.com/platforms/cost-super-bowl-ad-can-buy-online/).

Getting back to the 5 myths, from a social perspective, I found these interesting: (1) most people watch the event alone or with one other person and not with tons of friends or in sport bars, and (2) and this is a big one – vegetables, not wings, are the most consumed food of the day! Whether or not beer and alcohol consumption makes up for the veggies from a caloric POV was not studied, however.

Turning to a specific ad, GoDaddy’s attempt to spoof Budweiser’s highly successful Super Bowl puppy commercials was pulled because puppy lovers everywhere were horrified by what looked like puppy cruelty. The GoDaddy ad’s YouTube video had more than 800 comments, most trashing it; #godaddypuppy on Twitter skyrocketed with tweets, a petition calling on the company to kill the ad garnered more than 42,000 signatures. PETA, which admitted it “liked” that the ad because it showed that anyone who sells dogs online is “a callous jerk,” nonetheless echoed the other critics. The reality is that the GoDaddy dog, Buddy, was treated very nicely during the filing, and is now the official GoDaddy “Chief Companion Officer.” Sweet. And kudos to GoDaddy for pulling the ad.

The GoDaddy ad raises the legal issue of parody. Legally, parody, satire and criticism are not the same, having different legal standards. Legally, parody does not mean “funny.” It has very specific meanings under copyright law, trademark law and privacy/publicity laws, as does the broader legal doctrine of “fair use.” I’ll be addressing these in posts to come; for today, I’m just planting the seed that in making videos and other content, just because you’re poking fun doesn’t mean it’s legally OK.

And on that note, have a great weekend.