Victoria's Secret Is Headed to the Super Bowl

By Tricia Garner

For the first time in nearly a decade, lingerie retailer Victoria's Secret has bought an ad during the Super Bowl. A few more "secrets" about the 30-second spot: It will run in the second half of the game, and it will feature model Adriana Lima and, appropriately enough, a football. (Sadly, there will be no shots of Gisele Bundchen in a Patriots thong -- she left Victoria's Secret last month after the company refused to raise her $5 million salary. Guess Tom Brady's child support payments are higher than we all thought.)

According to AdAge.com, Victoria's Secret hopes the ad will drive sales for Valentine's Day. If history is any indication, it will get some kind of
reaction: The last time the store ran a Super Bowl ad, in 1999, its website crashed after 1.5 million people went there to watch a webcast hyped in the commercial.

Bra and panty advantage aside, Victoria's Secret will have plenty of competition for consumers' eyeballs. This year's Super Bowl ads are going for a record $2.5 to $3 million per 30-second spot, but that isn't stopping companies from snatching them up and giving them their most creative spin.

Sunsilk (featuring stars Madonna, Shakira and Marilyn Monroe) and Bridgestone (Alice Cooper and Richard Simmons) will play up the celebrity angle, and Audi is planning a 60-second take on "The Godfather". At least eight upcoming films will be promoted, twice as many as last year, including the superhero movie "Iron Man", Will Smith's "Hancock" and Adam Sandler's newest, "Don't Mess With the Zohan". And, in a new twist, Variety reports that Budweiser will collaborate with New Line Cinema on an ad starring Will Ferrell's character from the upcoming basketball spoof "Semi-Pro":



The reason for the increase in movie spots? Host with the most Ryan Seacrest is doing a special before the game in which he will interview stars from the films that are running ads.

Editor's Note: We must apologize for presenting you with the male crotch shot as opposed to a photo of Lima. The AP was all out of sexy Victoria's Secret photos and The Man won't let us just lift images from around the web.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.