Super Bowl Commercials: A Look Back At Early Ads (VIDEO)

The Super Bowl commercials are such a big deal now that it's hard to conceive of a time when they weren't so omnipresent. But when the game began in 1967, most companies treated it like any other match.

Back then, it cost around $75,000 to buy ad time during the Super Bowl. That's the equivalent of about $505,000 in today's money -- a mere fraction of the $3.5 million companies are actually paying for a 30-second spot.

We here at HuffPost Media consider ourselves students of history, so we couldn't help but include some of these early Super Bowl commercials in our occasional series "A Look Back." They stretch from 1969, two years after the first Super Bowl, all the way to 1979, when the game was much more entrenched in the culture. We tried to select a sort of grab bag of ads, but what stands out the most is how relatively simple these spots are in comparison to the budget-busting, elaborate commercials we see today. Take a look below.

Oh, and our eternal thanks to adland.tv, whose database of early ads was invaluable.

Comments

[Post31]

01:22 PM on 02/05/2012

I miss Joe Camel he's the reason I started smoking. "I was like look at that cartoon smoking that cigg he looks so cool."

[SweetestTaboo]

09:55 AM on 02/05/2012

Wow, remember when there was a U.S. Steel, back then when there was a thriving middle class....Enter Ronald Regan with his union busting, trickle down economics and the rest is history.

[SvrWx]

04:49 AM on 02/05/2012

Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, pink slime, on a sesame seed bun...

[Tea for me]

08:04 PM on 02/05/2012

Eeeeeeww......the pink slime_article did me in!

So glad I've never been into fast food places...eeeeww:>)

Hot dogs....with chicken lips- as my cousins used to tell me when I was 5....LOL..are bad enough:>)

Tea...Dems 2012:>)

[Remendado]

03:55 AM on 02/05/2012

So Gillette was telling us that only men with heavy beards are real men, and whiskerless guys are practically eunuchs?

[Darthwave]

11:58 PM on 02/04/2012

Wow. I walk a mile for lung cancer. Nice...

[walkerhds]

08:38 PM on 02/04/2012

wow. times have changed. USS has come such a long way...

[IllinoisTexan43]

06:19 PM on 02/04/2012

Wow. Actually bragging about having a superior health plan. How things have changed.

[asiclilpup]

06:56 PM on 02/04/2012

The good old days when corps and unions worked together for the good of all. Fav for catching that.

[eden4barack08]

04:15 PM on 02/04/2012

Wow...1979 United States Steel cared about people and jobs and safety and training and their medical care.....................then came Reagan in the '80s.

[kapalabhati]

05:33 PM on 02/04/2012

Yep. 1979, the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl, and Pittsburgh-based US Steel still dominated the worldwide industry.

[skybar]

08:42 PM on 02/04/2012

... and the Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series.

[Jaslene]

03:17 AM on 02/05/2012

OK. I thought I was the only one who thought Reagan really botched the states in the '80s. Cuz all I see publicized is praises being sung to him. I also remember a lot of 80s movies that showed people having a hard time finding jobs and being homeless. Crime also rose as a result. If that's not what you meant then my bad.

[eden4barack08]

05:40 AM on 02/05/2012

No, you're spot on! That's exactly what I meant. And we're not the only ones to acknowledge that the decline of America, mainly the middle class, started under Reagan.
The only ones in denial are the wingnutz who have deified him. The numbers don't lie.

[nfatt1]

10:04 AM on 02/04/2012

If you smoked camels, you couldn't walk a foot, let alone a mile.

[TheSecularist]

06:51 PM on 02/04/2012

My thought, too. What do ya mean you'd walk a mile? You'd be wheezing and would never make it. How ridiculous that claim seems now.

[ThankGodhesgone]

01:51 AM on 02/04/2012

And to think that these commercials came out in my formative years.

The 70's - Lame, cheap, ugly clothes and hair styles haha. I think I'll keep them around for my grandkids to enjoy. They wouldn't believe it, my polaroids of me in big ties and bell bottoms, notwithstanding.

[asiclilpup]

06:59 PM on 02/04/2012

On the plus side my old tie-dye tshirts made a small comeback.

[Tea for me]

08:09 PM on 02/05/2012

I was a young, female, caucasian teacher with a 'fro...earth shoes....bells..LOL..looking at the pictures now, I looked like a female Harpo....LOl....grand kids get a hoot out of it...
but, still tell me I was "cute":>)

Tea..Dems 2012:>)

[frozenfeathers]

08:20 PM on 02/05/2012

Tea, cool. Yes, you're a lovely and beautiful person. Cute seems diminishing to you. We're friends because of HuffPo, but I admire and respect your spirit and courage as a person (I know about Mr.) You were 'cute' to him, weren't you?

My spirit and hope is with you, sweetheart.

[ThankGodhesgone]

10:35 PM on 02/05/2012

ooo. Earth shoes. Precursors of Uggs. How about big collared shirts in iridescent colors with a matching tie (with a knot as big as your fist) Angel Flights and platform shoes.

Are't some of these coming cack or already have come back?

BTW - I watched about 15 of the ads. They outdid themselves this year!

[Douglas Gorney]

12:18 AM on 02/04/2012

Be as nostalgic as you want, but Christ, those were dull.

[JackDeath]

06:22 AM on 02/04/2012

Back then, the psychology of that day said that quiet ads made for a more attentive audience. The flashy ads were for the Saturday morning cartoon crowd.

Now, advertisers treat us all like children that will swallow any BS.

[MikeDu]

06:04 PM on 02/03/2012

I'm avoiding the superbowl just so I won't be subjected to the commercials... and to the halftime show.

[ThankGodhesgone]

01:52 AM on 02/04/2012

I'll check in for the half time show, but wait for the commerials to be posted on the internet.

[stjoshy]

05:23 PM on 02/03/2012

lmao.. ok go to :46 on the big mac commercial and hear the old guy say pickles. he sounds like gollum/smeagol lol

[citizenlegisators]

05:15 PM on 02/03/2012

and THE BIG MAC is still the most popular sandwich in the country

[ThankGodhesgone]

01:55 AM on 02/04/2012

Despite the fact that there is nothing natural about it anymore.

Two meat byproduct patties, frozen and dehydrated vegetable products and some chemically produced secret sauce.

Not quite the same thing anymore.

[stjoshy]

03:56 AM on 02/04/2012

OMNOMNOMMNOMNOM!!!! lol. ... but i do by the bigmac rarely bro. i aint into that pink slime really. my yep yep yep yep yep yep aliens love that nonsnse though... (they were bummed when it was banned)

[Whogivesafox]

03:32 PM on 02/05/2012

and Fox is the most popular "News" channel.

Shows how much we know.