Yes, I watched the Superbowl. Furtunately it was a pot-boiler of a game save the last 8 minutes. The highlights of the game were Prince and the deep fried pickles, deep fried zucchi, hush puppies, potato skins, sweet potato fries and pork sandwiches we made … but I digress.

As always, there’s a lot of chatter about the ads. But nothing was more sociologically striking to me then the fact Toyota ran a Prius ad, the third straight year they ran a hybrid car ad. Advertising a hybrid car to football fans, means environmentally conscious people are just as much a part of this country as football. They would not have wasted the $1M+ 30 second spot if their research showed anything different.

In fact, I don’t know about where you live, but there are so many Prius’ on the roads in the Bay Area my friends Tom and Andie have revived the old Punch Buggy call-out game of the 70’s but points are earned for spotting a Prius instead of a VW Bug. I’ve assumed SF is at the extreme end of the bell-curve (South Park writers agree, hilariously-so) but now I wonder what the adoption rates are across the country. Toyota is claiming they have are finally able to produce enough Prius’ to meet nationwide demand. I wonder how far this will go. I wonder when an American car maker will produce a hybrid car that is more fuel efficient than a traditional gas-engine car?