But enough about football...now on to the best part! Critiquing the ads!
Best Ads
1. Bud Light: Me and my entire family laughed at the one where the guy gets thrown from a meeting out of the top story window for suggesting that Bud Light be cut from the budget. Well-executed slapstick. The Conan O'Brien Swedish "Party Starter" ad was hilarious too. If I didn't already know that Bud Light tastes like bottled Clydesdale piss, I'd be tempted to try it and see what "drinkability" is all about.
2. Cash 4 Gold: Ed McMahon and MC Hammer hocking their bling for cash. Hammer's gold medallion of himself wearing a gold medallion. Ed mournfully patting his golden toilet, "farewell old friend". Wonderfully executed back-and-forth. So much fun it almost makes you forget they're only going to pay you 25% of market value for all that gold.
3. Star Trek: OK, so I don't think that regular old movie trailers should qualify as creative Super Bowl ads, but I almost wet my pants with excitement when this I saw this one.
4. Hulu: The whole "Alec Baldwin as mastermind of an alien plot to use a constant stream of television to reduce our brains to mush so they could be scooped out with a melonballer and eaten" thing was truly inspired madness. Hosting super bowl ads on Hulu so The Big Galoot can rewatch them at work is a slam dunk too.
5. Teleflora: I had no idea that sending boxed flowers meant that you thought someone was worthless! Most everyone I've sent them to seemed to enjoy getting them. Still, the part where the flowers tell the girl "nobody wants to see you naked" and the nerd in the next cubicle goes "I'd like to see you..." and she cuts him off is golden.
6. State Farm: OK, not offically aired DURING the Super Bowl, but it was close and I'm running out of good ones. The "Feeling Kinda' Sunday" one where LeBron James dreams of signing with the Cleveland Browns was a good one. LeBron in an NFL uniform! He jumps four feet off the ground to reject an extra point! Then jumps from the 5 yard line and dunks the ball through the goal posts! Two problems here. One, the entire town of Cleveland is about to be unceremoniously dumped by LeBron. Two, the NFL is really rubbing it in that the NBA's best player would give it all up to play for even the most backwards franchise in the NFL. Not since Michael Jordan decided to try his hand at striking out in the White Sox farm system for a few years has there been a black eye this big for the NBA. But I guess Santonio Holmes paid the NBA back by doing the whole LeBron tossing the chalk in the air routine after that big TD catch.
7. Denny's: Various ads showing tough guys eating pancakes with gummi bears, blue sauce, funny faces, and mountains of whipped cream, and then the tagline "Isn't it time for a serious breakfast?" 100% truth in advertising here...for I have been to the IHOP, and it is complete insanity. Plus, Dennys is giving away a free Grand Slam breakfast on Tuesday morning! If I knew where a Denny's was, I'd be in business!
Worst Ads
1. Doritos: At this point, these guys are just mailing it in. How many ways can you work female underwear into an ad for snack chips? Wait, I know! This guy crunches a chip and then some hot girl's clothes fly off! That's genius! Take a lesson from Cheetos boys...the one where the girl throws some cheetos on the ground to initiate a pigeon attack on the annoying bimbo next to her was clever. For my saturated fat grams, Cheetos rule!
2. Sobe: I didn't get the whole "Lizard Lake" thing. I didn't recognize whoever the guys were in the white spandex, and I got the feeling that a big part of the joke was based on that. Plus, they ran it in 3-D (for an audience that had no idea it was supposed to have obtained 3-D glasses somewhere) and added Monsters vs. Aliens characters in a befuddled mess of cross-promotion. As for Sobe, does slick "cool guy" packaging and hip-hop branding make me want to drink overpriced high-calorie fruit punch? Nice try.
3. Hyundai: Lexus and BMW execs are screaming in the boardroom in Japanese and German because Hyundai wins the "2009 North American Car of the Year" award. This country doesn't make anything anymore. Except for crappy Super Bowl ads.
4. GoDaddy.com: When, oh when will these guys be out of business? How does Danica Patrick sleep at night?
5. E-Trade: Talking baby wasn't funny the first time. You're now officially heading down the Geico Caveman route.
6. Bridgestone: The Mrs. Potato head losing her mouth and putting in her "angry eyes" thing felt like a swipe from "Toy Story". But as any man who lives in a house full of girls will tell you, we've all had the "removable mouth" fantasy. And we've also seen plenty of the "angry eyes" ;)
7. NFL Network: The "season never ends" where Darren McFadden keeps running past the draft and training camp and the preaseason on his way to next year's opening day. They forgot to include him running into the training room for two months after he sprains his big toe in week 3.
8. Escape from Witch Mountain: Disney attempting to answer the burning question on everyone's mind...who has less acting ability, The Rock or two 12 year old kids they found in a ColdStone last summer?
