Jura Liaukonyte

Professor of Marketing and Applied Economics, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

Jura Liaukonyte, professor of marketing in Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business, says while the Super Bowl gives advertisers a rare, synchronized moment when a huge share of the country is watching, advertisers can’t ignore politics. 

Liaukonyte says:

“Even if the broadcast reach is not fragmented, the audience is increasingly fragmented. The evidence is piling up that polarization is rising. We increasingly have two Americas that see the same things differently, and, increasingly, consume differently as well.

“People interpret the same cultural moment through different lenses, and they do it quickly in real time on social platforms. That shifts Super Bowl advertising from ‘reach everyone’ to ‘reach everyone, but do not assume shared meaning.’ So the Super Bowl premium still exists, but the risk advertisers have to weigh is changing. 

“At the same time, consumer sentiment data suggest more shared ground than we sometimes assume: when asked to describe how they and their household are doing, left-leaning and right-leaning respondents use strikingly similar language like “OK,” “struggling,” and “surviving,” which is a reminder that the day-to-day economic pressures feel broadly shared even when cultural interpretations diverge.”