Source: Jam! Showbiz

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — Super Bowl viewers in the United States will have a 3D ad experience, but it’ll be a no-D day in Canada.

A 3D ad campaign for the upcoming feature film Monsters vs. Aliens will be part of the Super Bowl ad extravaganza on NBC on Sunday, Feb. 1. More than 150 million pairs of 3D glasses will be distributed through various retail outlets in the U.S.

In Canada, however, Paramount has decided not to stage a similar campaign through CTV, which has Canadian rights to the big game.

One of the main reasons is that NBC is using the opportunity to cross-promote a new episode of its series Chuck. Viewers will be encouraged to keep their 3D glasses for a special episode of Chuck that will air the next night, Monday, Feb. 2, on NBC.

In Canada, however, Chuck airs on Citytv, rather than on CTV or any of its affiliates. Thus, the cross-promotion element doesn’t work.

Canadian football fans are used to not seeing the biggest ad campaigns that roll out annually in the U.S. on Super Bowl Sunday. That’s because Canadian broadcast rules allow the Canadian rights-holder to run their own ads not only on their own station, but also to superimpose those ads on the U.S. station that is broadcasting the event in Canada.

The practice, which is known as simulcasting, has been a source of frustration through the years for some Canadians who want to see what all the Super Bowl ad fuss is about. Most of the time it’s much ado about not that much, quite frankly.

Nonetheless, this year the costly Monsters vs. Aliens promotion already has been getting a lot of attention. DreamWorks Animation chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg went so far as to describe the stunt as “perhaps the biggest media-advertising event in history.”

Well, not in Canada … unless you have a way to watch a direct feed from the United States, that is.

Monsters vs. Aliens is scheduled to be in theatres on March 27.

Movie-List will of course have the trailer online if and when it is available.