Just days after announcing their withdrawal from advertising on Facebook (and putting a rather sour note on the social networking giant's forthcoming IPO) General Motors have shocked the marketing world again by announcing that they will not advertise during the 2013 NFL Super Bowl.



General Motors CMO Joel Ewanick has now made two very aggressive advertising moves in close proximity, though his radical new strategy (minus cost-cutting) seems unclear at this stage.

“It’s just getting too expensive, and we’re not just going to do the same thing every year,” he shrugged.

According to the Wall Street Journal, "GM is the third largest Super Bowl advertiser, and has shelled out about $82 million on Super Bowl ad time between 2002-2011."

Ad time for last season’s game in February cost about $3.5 million for 30 seconds, according to media buyers, and had risen about 59% since 2001, when a spot sold for roughly $2.2 million.

So no-one can doubt the cost - but the exposure it brings (competitors Volkswagen, Toyota, Chrysler, Audi, Acura and Hyundai paid $3.5 million or more for each 30 seconds of air time during Super Bowl XLVI ) and Super Bowl ads are viewed with a cult-like, historical following - essentially as big as the game itself!

General Motors have been a major player at several Super Bowls, with a several TV spots for Chevrolet and Cadillac in Super Bowl XLVI last February. Executives had regularly championed the direct power of Super Bowl TV ads (they are hotly-anticipated every year) but also the increasing levels exposure achieved on social media; with major events such as football's UEFA Champions League Final attracting up to 10,000 tweets per second.

2012's Super Bowl attracted a global audience of 166.8 million, the most-watched program in American television history. But don't expect General Motors at next year's party.