Posted on 02/02/2015 12:57:42 PM PST by Clint N. Suhks
After a year full of discord and #outrage, Super Bowl advertisers went waaay somber. It’s as if they hoped to gently heal us, to spur reflection, to encourage us all to just, like, coexist with each other and consider each other’s struggles.
Over the course of the night, there appeared dead children. Absent fathers. People forced to work during the Super Bowl instead of watching the game. There was Jeff Bridges helping us to conquer our nighttime anxieties.
Frankly, the whole thing was sort of a bummer. I’m all in favor of marketers evolving beyond the farting animals and contused groins of Super Bowls past. But it felt like a bunch of the ads this year forgot to have any fun.
(Personal note: You know who did have fun? Jerky, triumphalist Patriots fans.)
FIRST HALF
After the coin flip, Chevy punked us all with an ad that convinced many folks their TVs had died. Best use of a surprise black screen since the Sopranos finale. But is it really a crucial selling point that you can use your truck as a download hotspot? “I’m tethered to my truck!” “OK.”
The first ad after kickoff went to a Toyota spot titled “How Great I Am.” The ad gave me chills, with its Muhammad Ali trashtalk backing scenes of Amy Purdy, a Paralympic medalist and Dancing With the Stars contestant who lost both legs to bacterial meningitis at 19. The spot is a tremendous advertisement for Purdy herself, who just hit the top of my curated list of indomitable badasses. But do Amy Purdy’s personal heroics make you want to buy a car? I couldn’t find a lot of connection here between sentiment and product—it’s not like we associate mid-sized, sensible sedans with overcoming adversity....
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
I didn’t connect with the trash talking aspect, I was too enamored with Amy Purdy being a big fan of hers. She is inspirational in many ways.
Oh my! I just saw the Chevy Truck ad, way cool! And like how it connects to the AC/DC “Back In Black” music from their previous commercial with the elevator music which I think is very well done.
I looked at it a bit differently. Suppose it was an anti-abortion ad instead. The kid talking about a life not lived because he was terminated before having the chance at life ....
I liked the Doritos ad with the guy sitting on the plane and the empty seat next to him.
Best ad was the Doritos ad with the airplane passenger convincing people not to sit next to him: faking a cold, playing a recorder, clipping his toenails, sleeping across the seat, reading "How to manage chronic IBS", flossing but then finally tempting a cute woman with his bag of Doritos. Whoops, she has a kid.
I also liked the avocado ad with the "First Draft Ever". The polar bear in a sombrero hoping to be picked by Mexico was hilarious.
That was his girlfriend Kiana Kim telling him he’s not supposed to be in the hall...
Australia drafts... the kangaroo!
There was a Pizza Hut one that made fun of Super Bowl commercials that was pretty funny, but it aired 4:00 Central, 5:00 Eastern, almost 2 hours before kickoff. I expected to see it again but didn’t.
Wow, that sure is commensurate with all the other downer commercials that aired nationally.
The polar bear wearing a sombrero chanting “beach, beach, beach, beach” and Mexico drafts the avocado!!!
Funniest Super Bowl commercial I’ve ever seen.
Before the game started, there was an ad about ideas starting out messy and not well formed, that emerge into something wonderful. It use a cute but ugly creature to represent a new idea. I thought it was very effective and inspiring. I think it was GE, but the logo disappeared so quickly, it’s hard to be sure.
This one?
http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2015/02/01/tony-romo-rex-ryan-pizza-hut-super-bowl-commercial-video
“Your child died?”
I had no idea that ad was so bad, I just watched it now. And they are basically saying the child died IN YOUR HOUSE, either in a too full bathtub (left unattended!) or from cleaning products under the sink (left unattended!) or from the TV falling on them (left unattended and btw Dad messed up the mounting!).
Sheesh almighty, dreadful.
Pretty good recap of the ads, thanks for posting this. Even though it’s slate and even though the author seems to be almost a self-hating man, although not so much that he likes the Dove and the Nissan ads.
He’s really spot on about Nissan, I mean who thought that was a good ad? And I even like that song, to a certain extent.
“I thought they all sucked”
I thought they all sucked too. BTW, remember back in the day when Super Bowl ads were funny, cutting edge, and entertaining?
Yeah, I know, that was a LONG time ago.
I’ve not seen a mention here about the “throw like a girl” commercial. It was about hurting the “feelings” of girls. Just wow, I think of all the hardships of girls around the world and THIS is what girls in this country have to overcome? ohhhh the horror. Of course, boys don’t have anyone bully them, call them names or have girls tease them!
...makes people who they are. I just couldn’t help but think it was such liberal “feel good” nonsense. Of course, it was really just male-bashing, of course we all need to change OUR behavior. They must have spent a lot of money on it. I would imagine they’d have had a bigger impact if they’d shown all children being picked on, with the final message, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.
...lol...I know, it’s crazy!
Yea, the Pete Rose ad made me laugh out loud & for at least 15 seconds after it ended. Very funny!
The Pete Rose ad is great, but it was not a Super Bowl ad... To me a Super Bowl is something never seen before and never again...
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