I already knew what was going to happen in the "PepSuber" commercial. I watched Saturday Night Live when Sarah Palin was on -- I haven't watched it since and hadn't for years previous -- and saw that "MacGruber" shtick. A little bit amusing the first time they blew up. The fourth time? I was wondering if SNL writers were back to snorting cocaine, like in the Franken era.
This was NOT a good year for commercials. I only laughed a few times; The Bridgestone commercial with Mrs. Potato Head losing her lips; the Denny's Grand Slam commercial with the cheery waitress interrupting the mobsters; the Teleflora bit with the talking flowers; the Hyundai spot with the German and Japanese car bosses; the Doritos crystal ball bit.
The E-Trade bit with the black kid singing "Broken Wings" was good for a few titters. Speaking of titters, the GoDaddy "Enhancement Hearing" commercial is a clever and original satire of the House hearing on steroid use in baseball. It's better online than the short, censored thirty-second version. The one with Danica Patrick and the blonde chick in the shower is just dumb. BTW, don't be fooled -- there is no frontal nudity in the online version of either commercial.
The blonde girl in the Taco Bell ad is gorgeous. She deserves better than a guy who means fast food enchiladas when he says "dinner." The ballyhooed Coke Zero bit was OK, but Troy Polamalu is a terrible actor. It was a bad year for the Clydesdales -- nothing matching the Rocky-themed spot of last year. In the Audi commercial, I wondered why the guy running for his life didn't even bother to jump into a Lexus with the motor running. Maybe car enthusiasts can explain that to me.
Ads I hated: I almost threw my remote at the screen when I saw Pepsi equate will.i.am with Bob Dylan. The "My Generation" one is clever, I must admit. But I'm still boycotting Pepsi until this thinly-veiled Obama crap they're pulling is over. The Castrol ad with the chimps -- ewwww. After side-splitting ads with chimps a few years back, CareerBuilder has stunk up the joint for two years straight. And I didn't appreciate the Doritos commercial in which a guy turned a police officer into a monkey. The SoBe lizards were stupid, and so were the guys in the leotards -- 3-D didn't make a bad idea better. Whoever conceived those GE "ecoimagination" spots stole every cent they were paid. The ending of the Cars.com ad with the boy genius seemed like it was edited minutes before broadcast -- talk about a flat ending. And Hulu.com with Alec Baldwin; yeah, he's a slimy reptile all right.
The Budweiser Clydesdales were good. Bridgestone had the best ad, way to know your audience. The Careerbuilder ad was too long, like a SNL skit. We got it after the first couple times, no need to keep piling on. The Teleflora ad was the worst, absolutely mean with no point at all. BGoDaddy, well, who didn’t see that coming.