best and worst super bowl ads, 2008
February 3rd, 2008
My tops and flops, in order.
Tops
1. Bridgestone/”Richard Simmons” - It had Alice Cooper in it. Alice, people!
1a. Bud Light/”Semi Pro” - Will Farrell says, “suck one.” ‘Nuf said.
2. Coke/”Balloon” - Connecting with kids of all ages.
3. FedEx/”Pigeons” - Gotta love killer birds with Terminator inspired headgear. It was also the only ad mentioning Cleveland.
4. Budweiser/”Hank” - Horses, a dog, beer and Rocky music. Reminded me of my bachelor party.
5. Pepsi/”Timberlake” - The only ad that made my toddler laugh. That’s gotta count for something.
Flops
1. SalesGenie.com - I’ll give you 100 leads. Go grab the Yellow Pages.
2. Lifewater/”Thriller” - Nothing like attaching your brand to a pedophile.
3. CareerBuilder I & II - Aside from the fact that they’re on my sh*tlist, both ads were simply lost in the macabre. And what’s up with the smashed building at the end?
4. E*trade/”Baby Trade I” - They had me up until the baby puked. Too close to home. Later one with a clown was much better.
5. G2/Gatorade - I’m just sick of Peyton Manning. Anyone else with me?
These and all the rest can legally be seen on MySpace.
February 4th, 2008 at 1:13 am
Vitamin Water was the only one that made me really laugh. Make sure you watch it to the very end!
February 4th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Is CareerBuilder.com trying to appeal to a younger demographic?
They are the latest advertiser on humor web site CollegeHumor.com . Their bright orange brand and tag line fills the background of the CH main page.
The top of the CH page links to CB with bold text and a button that states, “After you’re done watching dirty skanks, Find a Better Job.”
February 4th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
The heart jumping out and walking to the boss was disgusting - really nasty stuff. But no doubt that these things are focus grouped for the demographics they are seeking and maybe to a 20 something male the ad was not nasty, gross, and unfunny but rather hip and interesting. I do like the Toyota ad where the pickup busts out thru the dragon’s chest with the heart in the truckbed- but then again, things busting out of chests was already overdone in 1979 when Alien came out…..
February 4th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
What about the Tide Stain? To me that one was the best.
February 4th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Joel,
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who didn’t get the CB ads. If you like to have fun wtih commercials, have you checked out Firebrand.com? Some really funny stuff much of which we don’t get here.
February 5th, 2008 at 11:05 am
There’s been a great deal of discussion about whether the Sales Genie ad played into racial stereotypes.
It certainly was an odd choice to have that accent–they didn’t have to go the Apu route. Not everyone who’s brown has a strong accent.
What say you?