Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Restaurant company Denny’s Corp. and dog-food maker Pedigree are buying what General Motors Corp. can’t afford this year: a Super Bowl ad.

For the first time in a decade, no U.S. automaker will advertise during the most-watched U.S. sports event when NBC televises the National Football League’s title game Feb. 1.

“This year’s lineup of advertisers may be more reflective of some of the economic challenges the country faces,” said John Rash, director of media analysis at Campbell Mithun, a Minneapolis-based advertising agency whose client H&R Block Inc. bought time during the game.

Denny’s, a dining chain with annual revenue of about $900 million, bought its first Super Bowl ad to unveil a new promotion for customers squeezed by the recession, Chief Executive Officer Nelson Marchioli said in an interview.

Amid the longest U.S. recession since the 1980s, NBC sold most of the game’s 67 commercial spots for less than the $3 million apiece it hoped to get.

NBC, the network owned by General Electric Co., sold 12 spots at $3 million and the rest in the “high 2 millions,” Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports & Olympics, said Jan. 27. Two spots sold for $2.4 million each yesterday and two remained unsold.

Steelers Versus Cardinals

GM, the largest U.S. carmaker, and FedEx Corp., the country’s second-biggest package-shipping company, passed after being Super Bowl advertisers for more than a decade. Detroit- based GM and Chrysler LLC, its Auburn Hills, Michigan-based rival, both sought and received U.S. loans to stave off bankruptcy.

FedEx said last month it was freezing hiring and cutting the pay of Chief Executive Officer Fred Smith following a drop in domestic express shipments.

NBC’s asking price was 11 percent more than the $2.7 million News Corp.’s Fox charged on average last year, when the New York Giants beat the previously undefeated New England Patriots. That game drew a record 97.5 million viewers. This year, the Pittsburgh Steelers will play against the Arizona Cardinals in Tampa, Florida.

“The Super Bowl is still a unique advertising venue because you really can reach a huge percentage of the U.S. population at one moment,” said Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, Illinois.

‘Crazy Pets’

Denny’s, based in Spartanburg, South Carolina, will advertise in the third quarter of the game, said Marchioli, who declined to say how much the company paid for the spot. The company spent $59.4 million on marketing in the first nine months of 2008, according to New York-based researcher TNS Media Intelligence.

“We know the consumer is getting beaten up in this recession,” Marchioli said. “We see the Super Bowl as a unique opportunity to get our message out.”

Pedigree, owned by closely held Mars Inc., will use the Super Bowl to introduce a revamped campaign to help an estimated 4 million dogs in shelters find new homes.

The spot, called “Crazy Pets,” features the voice of “X- Files” actor David Duchovny and shows a world without dogs. It features an ostrich chasing a mail man and kids trying to play fetch with a bull. It’s a departure from a previous campaign with dogs behind bars and melancholy music, said John Anton, director of marketing at Nashville, Tennessee-based Pedigree.

“We’ve taken a more humorous approach to communicating our commitment to adoption,” Anton said. He declined to say how much the company paid for the spot.

‘Unprecedented Economic Waters’

Denny’s and Pedigree are among six companies that bought an ad for the first time, compared with seven new advertisers last year, according to TNS. The other newcomers include DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. and Teleflora LLC.

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, Coca-Cola Co. and GoDaddy.com are among the returning advertisers.

FedEx, based in Memphis, Tennessee, decided to pass for the first time in 12 years because of the country’s “unprecedented economic waters,” according to a company statement last month.

“There is a time to justify such an ad spend and a time to step back,” Steve Pacheco, managing director of advertising, said in the statement.

GM won’t have an ad because it cut its marketing budget and doesn’t have new models to promote, said Kelly Cusinato, a company spokeswoman.

Chrysler, owned by Cerberus Capital Management LP, hasn’t bought an ad since 2004, said spokeswoman Jodi Tinson. Ford Motor Co., the second-largest automaker, also passed, according to Said Deep, a company spokesman.

Last year, car companies including foreign manufacturers ran 5 1/2 minutes of Super Bowl ads, the most of any industry, according to researcher Nielsen Co.

Audi, Hyundai

U.S. auto sales fell to their lowest in 16 years last year, according to industry-analysis firm Autodata Corp. GM and Chrysler have received $13.4 billion in emergency government loans and agreed to restructure their businesses.

Car ads won’t vanish altogether. Audi AG, a unit of Germany’s Volkswagen AG, is returning to the Super Bowl with an ad featuring actor Jason Statham, known for his on-screen car chases in movies including “The Transporter” and “The Bank Job.”

Shortly after the carmaker’s first Super Bowl ad in two decades aired last year, the Audi R8 sports car became the top search term on Google, said Kevin Ray, a company spokesman.

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, will advertise for the second time to promote its 2010-model Genesis Coupe, according to a statement.

Victoria’s Secret, owned by Columbus, Ohio-based Limited Brands Inc., decided not to advertise after having the highest- rated commercial in the 2008 Super Bowl. The spot, featuring supermodel Adriana Lima, was seen by 103.7 million viewers, Nielsen said.

“We made history,” Ed Razek, president and chief marketing officer at Limited Brands, said in an e-mail. “We didn’t need to repeat it.”

To contact the reporter on this story: James Callan in New York at jcallan2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 29, 2009 00:01 EST