Super Bowl Ads
What a bunch of duds. Unlike most of America, I thought the beer commercials were terrible, other than “Rock, Paper, Scissors” which was mildly amusing. Careerbuilder.com dropped their likable monkey campaign for an odd jungle/Lord of the Flies/Survivor thing that failed to entertain or even make sense. There were some good ones amidst the muck, though.
1st Quarter: Winners
Coca Cola: Video Games … an extremely well-executed send-up of the Grand Theft Auto games, and a great extension of a long-running Coke theme
Doritos: Crash … cute and rewatchable
Blockbuster: Mouse … a nice play on words, though I’m sure I’ll tire of it quickly
Sierra Mist: Combover … the biggest laugh of the evening for me. But I’m weird and love Jim Gaffigan
1st Quarter: Losers
GM: We Got Love … too long, too meandering, too boring
Godaddy.com … really? Still using sex to sell domain names? That’s just sad
2nd Quarter: Winners
Coca Cola: Side of Life … Another great one from Coke, my pick for best advertiser of the night
GM: Robot … a nice bit of anthropomorphism. Actually, I just wanted to use that word
2nd Quarter: Losers
Chevy: Car Wash … what were they thinking? The worst bit of “sex sells” advertising since Godaddy.com
Heart Association … huh? Some weird Matrix-y costumes and action do not add up to a good commercial. Even with the guy dressed as a heart and names on the evil-doers, I wasn’t quite sure what this was all about.
3rd Quarter: Winners
Coca Cola: Happiness Factory … possibly the most brilliant ad of the night as far as I’m concerned. Fantastic animation and a Rube Goldberg-worthy machine put this one at the top
Emerald Nuts: Robert Goulet … this one fits into a lot of Super Bowl ad cliches—celebrity pitchman, quirky humor—but they managed to make it entirely original
Nationwide Insurance: K-Fed … this is a perfect candidate for a one-time viewing; I hated it at the start, loved it by the end and never once knew who the advertiser was
3rd Quarter: Losers
Career Builder … what more is there to say? Completely inane. Bring back the monkeys!
Revlon: Sheryl Crow … what’s worse than a 60-second Super Bowl ad for hair products? One that is also an ad for an adult contemporary arena tour
T-Mobile: D-Wade & Chuck … You spent 2.6 million and aired and ad we’ve all seen 100 times already? Why?
4th Quarter: Winners
Uh, there weren’t any.
4th Quarter: Losers
Izod … wha? I don’t really get it—though I can’t seem to get the image of wet shirts out of my head
Everbody else … the problem with 4th quarter ads is that unless the game is close, nobody really cares any more. And it shows in the lack of effort put forth in all these commercials
Watch these ads and more at CBS Sportsline.