Super Bowl Fun

For once the game far out-shined the commercials. A couple highlights but really average overall. The Declaration of Independence opening was new for me...I guess they've done this for a couple years now. Obviously I've missed it. I'm not sure what the impetus was (9/11?), but it was a nice little civics lesson before my sporting event.

Enough! The commercials...

1. Ford. Attach chains to front tow-hooks. Swing truck in giant centrifuge. Prove strength of tow-hooks. Fantastic. Next time I need to use a pick-up in the hammer throw I'll know where to turn.
2. Chase. I'm rock climbing..."Whoa, is that my phone?" Why, yes it is. "Well, I'm obviously gonna have to answer that NOW, 300 feet in the air...Hey, it's someone from my bank telling me I'm almost out of money so I better transfer..." Next time your bank calls you, hell, ANYONE calls you while you're scaling a sheer mountain face remember you have an extremely valid excuse not to answer.
3. Under Armour. Under Armour likes ridiculously melodramatic commercials in which athletes appear positioned to change the course of humankind. The Matrix-like scenario in this one continues the trend. I have to hand it to them though, they make money hand over fist with this stuff.
4. Life Water. Lizards. Drinking Life Water. Then they dance with...is that someone famous? That is Thriller. What is the product again? And what's up with the lizards? I swear I thought this was going to be an ad for Geico.
5. Sales Genie. Whoo boy, someone's gonna be fired over this. GardenBurger shot their ad budget and then some during the Super Bowl a few years back and it paid off. I'm sure Sales Genie is hoping to catch the same lighting in a bottle. Good luck with that. Wow, the panda ad is even worse.
   
6. Budweiser. It's a horse! It's Rocky! It's going on waaaaay toooo looooooong.....Some people will like this. I am not one of them.
   
7. Garmin. Napoleon needs directions. Imagine the marketing folks discussing this..."So, it's Napoleon, in some European car you see, and he's using Garmin for directions to the front you see...and then when he gets there he hides his Garmin contraption see, and then, get this, they bring him a pony!" Hilarious.
8. GMC. Cartoon dude pushing a rock uphill. The theme is, "Never say never." I thought this ad was going the way of an investment company and turns out it's for the Yukon. Waaaay over the top. It's an SUV, not the cure for cancer.
9. Bud Light. Lots of Bud Light commercials. The cheese and wine dinner was ok. The rest were ho-hum, although I did like the bottle opener in the caveman one. And Will Farrell was good.
   
10. Bridgestone. The screaming animal commercial was interesting, but the one with Alice Cooper and Richard Simmons was pretty good. Don't know whether I'll go shopping for new tires based on that though.
11. Go Daddy. Danica Patrick! Undressing! Go check it out! I believe Go Daddy has done this before, I guess they think these stunts work. And no, I didn't go check it out.
12. Audi. The Godfather commercial was one one of my favorites. That car looked pretty good. Too bad everyone I know who has owned an Audi has had nothing but problems with them. For the rest of you, feel free to shop unencumbered.
13. Dell. Dell had an ad for some computer in which I was more interested in whether or not that was a new Stones song they were playing than the actual computer.
14. ETrade. No more talking babies. Please.
15. NFL. Probably the best ad I saw was for the NFL itself. Chester Pitts goes from playing the oboe to playing in the NFL. True? I guess so, but who cares?
    
16. Coke. I liked the Charlie Brown balloon, although I thought it just a bit shy of great. The Carville/Frist ad was ok.

There were others. The Pepsi Justin Timberlake fiasco. Shaq playing a jockey for....I don't remember. Vitamin Water? The T-Mobile (?) Barkley/D-Wade ad was ok. Overall they were all just that - ok. Maybe next year. Like I said, at least the game was memorable.