GM Boycott Super Bowl Ads After Price Hike

General Motors (GM) will not advertise during this year’s Super Bowl game after the American car giant refused to accept a price hike.

Advertisers paid an average of $3.5 million for a 30 second ad during last year’s Super Bowl which saw GM return after a two-year break.

According to their executives the ads last year were very effective but GM’s global marketing chief, Joel Ewanick, said the company would not pay the new rate.

He said: “”It’s just getting too expensive and we’re not just going to do the same thing every year.”

Another GM spokesman, Pat Morrissey, said: “We understand the reach the Super Bowl provides, but with the increased price, we can’t justify the expense.”

Morrissey added GM would not see a decrease in its overall ad spending and may see more money spent this year.

Ads for the Super Bowl are said to be up around 9%, with a 30-second spot costing $3.8 million according to media buyers.

GM is the third largest Super Bowl advertiser having spent $82 million on ads during the game between 2002-2011, behind only Anheuser-Busch InBev and PepsiCo in figures calculated by Kantar Media.