So this is the year every website operator and his brother is linking to all the big Super Bowl ads.
And this is the year nobody wants to see them.
What duds, eh? All those lame ads almost made you long to get back to the lame game being played in a Miami monsoon between the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts. Of course Indy won. But who won the commercial contest?
Hard to say. Whoever’s ad wasn’t a complete snooze, or an utter what-the-bleep mystifier. The Bud spots were so bland as to make last year’s farting horses seem inspired. Ford, Toyota -- zzzzz. Lots of movie trailers, none of which came off as must-sees. Loads of guy-centric pitches, spotlighting violence, mayhem, busty babes, and such “manly” behavior as guys ripping their chest hairs out. Where were the cheeky, witty commercials? MIA. (My kingdom for a cool Mac vs. PC meet-up.)
The few standouts might include the pre-game’s NFL Network spot at Chad Johnson’s Super Bowl party, with a mad mix of mismatched guests including Janet Reno, Jimmy Fallon, Rascal Flatts and Martha Stewart. The Coke animations were nifty, but hardly classic, while GM’s laid-off robot and Bud Light’s Carlos Mencia ads were at least creative enough to be worth another watch. Those you-design-’em spots by contest winners were at least as good.
The big winner in the Super Bowl commercial race? HD set owners. The predominance of spots presented in high definition this year was the game’s biggest wow. Sunday’s CBS broadcast delivered roughly 110 national spots (including CBS promos), and more than 90 were in HD (nearly every CBS promo).
That left the standard-def laggards looking about as potent as the equally meager Chicago Bears offense. Advertisers like Blockbuster, Salesgenie and Taco Bell were essentially telling big-spending HD households: Don’t buy what we’re selling. We’re cheap, cheesy and behind the curve.
First bet of the next football season: All the commercials of Super Bowl 2008 will be in HD.
Some Super Bowl ad links --
This year’s spots
Viewers vote on faves
Critiques by ad professionals
Classic Super Bowl commercials
Super spots through the years