Companies spend $3 million-plus for their spots in the big game and are done letting the actual airing of their commercials be the first time anyone talks about them. There are all kinds of gimmicks including Twitter competitions and other online contests to create buzz about commercials.

Super Bowl ad spots are now so expensive that showing a product to over 100 million viewers doesn’t do enough for companies. They have to pre-game their ads.

Can people tell if a commercial is really funny or if they’re just doing what they’re told as they laugh?

Companies are advertising for their advertisements. Somewhere in the middle of all of it a football game will be played. But plenty of viewers will ask everyone at their parties to quiet down when commericials come on rather than during the football action.