General Motors Won't Advertise During 2013 Super Bowl

By Roland Li | May 18 2012 4:27 PM

The General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), the largest U.S. automaker, said Friday it will not advertise during the broadcast of the 2013 Super Bowl as it shifts its advertising strategy, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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Mexican subsidiaries of General Motors Co., Volkswagen AG and Nissan Motor Co., meanwhile, have been able to take advantage of a weaker peso to improve value of exports.

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Detroit-based General Motors told the Journal that the cost of advertising, about $3.8 million for 30 seconds, has become too expensive to justify. In the last decade, General Motors has spent $82 million on Super Bowl advertising, according to Kantar Media, making it the third-largest advertiser behind beer company Anheuser-Busch InBev (Euronext: ABI) and PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP).

The company is in the midst of a push to streamline its advertising spending by using fewer agencies. This week, the company said it would stop paying for online advertising on Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB), saving around $10 million. Last year, it spent $4.47 billion in advertising, according to its annual report.

This year, General Motors ran five different ads for its Chevrolet brand during the Super Bowl.

On Friday, shares of General Motors closed down 43 cents to $21.18.