Monday, February 8, 2010

Super Bowl Ads 2010

Well, it’s the day after the Super Bowl and it was nice to see the City of New Orleans finally get a championship. I just wanted to quickly touch on a topic that is almost bigger than the game itself; the commercials.

I think Super Bowl commercials have jumped the shark a bit. Back in the days of Bud Bowl, Super Bowl commercials really were peaking. It was practically a “must-see” event. Now it’s hit or miss. This year had some good ones, but not too many that will be considered classics. Here are a few thoughts.

I think my favorite, as with a lot of people, was the Doritos House Rules, with the kid getting in the face of the guy who has arrived to pick up his mom for a date. “Do touch my mom and don’t touch my Doritos.” This is the line of the night, in my opinion. Doritos also scored with their Snack Attack Samurai ad.

The other ad that really worked for me was the TruTV - Troy Polamalu advertisement. Punxsutawney Polamalu was hilarious and probably the best visual of the night.

I have to admit, I am a Bud Light drinker, so I may be a bit biased, but more times than not, I love their commercials. Their Light House spot was funny, as was the Book Club, but I think I laughed at the Voice Box commercial the most.

“Laugh” is a key word here. These companies are paying a lot for these spots, and if they are not funny, interesting or ground breaking, people are disappointed and are more prone to go get another drink the next time that company’s commercial comes on. In light of that, the Google Parisian Love commercial was definitely a hit. Where I was everyone in the room was glued to that spot, and Google really made their point.

The Dr. Pepper commercial with Kiss was not great, but memorable. But I am a long-time member of the Kiss Army, and Mini-Kiss always cracks me up… so again, I am a little biased. I’m just curious... they are touting Dr. Pepper with a Kiss of Cherry, but wasn’t Dr. Pepper always a cherry flavored soda?

There was a lot of controversy over the Focus on the Family - Tim Tebow spot. I honestly don’t see the big deal. And speaking of controversy, the Go Daddy commercials were toned down this year. Let’s face it, Danica Patrick is pretty, but the old Go Daddy girl, Candace Michelle, made much more of an impact. Still, Go Daddy has established itself as the Hooters of web hosting and everyone certainly remembers their name.

Other spots of note:
· Hyundai - Brett Favre 2020 MVP : Funny, but we are almost as sick of Brett Favre’s self-parody as we are of his retirement flip-flops.
· Snickers – Betty White: C’mon, how can you go wrong with Betty White and Abe Vigoda.
· Motorola – Megan Fox: Okay, I swear, it’s not just because Megan Fox is hot. That was a funny ad.
· The Boost Mobile Super Bowl Shuffle Reunion: A callback to a Super Bowl classic, and almost as awkward as the original.
· FLO TV - Jim Nantz : Nantz just ripping that poor shlep who is shopping with his wife instead of watching the big game was funny… and just the kind of things real guys would say.
· eTrade – Wolf Style: I miss the old eTrade Baby, but they had great spots this year. The “Milkaholic, Milka-what” line is second place to Doritos for line of the night.
· The Emerald Nuts/Pop Secret – Dolphins : People swimming around like dolphins = awesome, or as they would say, “awesomer.”

If you missed one, need a refresher or just want to see all of the Super Bowl commercials again, you can click here.

What was your favorite?

1 comment:

Steve said...

My vote is going to go to the Betty White Snickers ad and to the Go Daddy ad with the massage therapist because she's a friend of mine so I'll give her the vote, right? That's fair. That's why we have friends!