Review of the American Heart Association's Super Bowl XLI Commercial

The American Heart Association's commercial, "You Gotta Have Heart," raised awareness of a serious health issue with humor during Super Bowl XLI: heart disease. Addressing heart disease when football fans are devouring traditional Super Sunday foods like cheesy pizza, salty chips and deep fried chicken wings makes sense. I have to wonder, did anyone put down their greasy, fatty foods upon seeing the one-minute spot?

Despite some youthfulness with the American Heart Association commercial, they must be trying to reach the Baby Boomers. The spot opens with an almost gray-like busy sidewalk. A gray-haired man sticks out in the crowd in his large, bright red heart outfit. The heart casually walks down the sidewalk in his red tights, swinging his briefcase and minding his own business. In the background, the song "You Gotta Have Heart" from the Broadway musical "Damn Yankees" plays.

Danger lurks. The camera pans to a theatre marquis which reads "Beat Your Risk." Atop that, an evil looking, younger man in a long, flowing black coat looks down. Seeing the innocent and dopey looking heart, the sinister man says, "There he is," and we learn he is "High Blood Pressure."

Like a comic book villain, "High Blood Pressure" jumps down a couple of stories and lands on the sidewalk, ready to confront the heart. Startled and not sure what to do, the heart turns around to find a black-haired, vinyl-wearing vixen riding a motorized, flying surfboard. We learn she's "Diabetes."

The heart makes a dash for the street but a big, burly man named "Overweight" is driving a van towards him. A scary, gang-banger type man called "High Cholesterol" stops the heart and things get ugly.

"High Blood Pressure" grabs the heart and tosses him into a black van. The heart lands with a whimper and I swear, he looks ready to cry. The van speeds off to an alley where the evil four take their turns beating up the heart with punches and kicks. He's finally tossed against the wall which reads: "BEAT YOUR RISK .COM." The voice over asks, "Is your heart at risk of an attack?"

Viewers are then directed to www.beatyourrisk.com to learn their risks of heart disease and what they can do to reduce their risk. The site is sponsored by two pharmaceutical companies: King Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Schering-Plough. Omron Healthcare, Inc. is another sponsor.

Super Bowl commercials are traditionally funny, sexy or emotional. The American Heart Association spot doesn't fit any of those categories and stands alone by raising a serious issue through a touch of humor, albeit dark. The reality of heart disease was effectively communicated through this spot. The true test of its effectiveness, however, should be measured next year when Super Bowl fans are polled to see how many replaced their fried chicken wings with baked tofu turkeys.

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