It pains me to say this, but I’m bored with Super Bowl advertising. Instead of being innovative, exciting, new and different, they mostly have a predictable sameness to them. This supercut of Super Bowl ads posted over at Deadspin highlights the problem of “How many boobs and nut shots were there in the Super Bowl commercials?” As they say:
Another year, another 70-plus multimillion-dollar round of hyper-produced spots for the Super Bowl featuring silent women in bikinis, abused consumers, and CrAzY CoLLiSiOns. May we never forget the two magic words—sex and violence—and may we never evolve.
To be sure, there were memorable, heart touching ads out there. Dodge had the 2-minute-long “So God made a farmer” Paul Harvey-voiced ad for their trucks which attracted mixed response, depending, I suppose, on what part of the country you’re from. (I live in Nebraska and liked it, though I don’t think it was as good as the Eminem “Imported From Detroit” ad from a couple of years ago):
Another ad that attracted a lot of positive attention (and romanticized farming) was the Budweiser ad featuring a newborn clydesdale. It was USA Today’s highest rated commercial of the evening, and the clydesdales have long history as part of the Budweiser brand image. (The version I’ve linked to is an extended web-cut of the ad.)
(Ok, after rewatching this one, I have to admit it’s a heartwarming ad that does a lot to build good feelings about the brand.)
But overall, I can’t say that any of the ads this year stood out as giving a strong message positive message about the product as well as being enjoyable to watch. Yes, I liked the Paul Harvey-based Dodge ad. But I would have been hard pressed to know that it was an ad for Dodge trucks. Instead, I’m going to remember the great short film about farmers.
Argue as much as you want about the Eminem Imported From Detroit playing fast and loose with labor history, it made me proud of Chrysler, even if I shouldn’t have been.
And that’s what I think makes for a great commercial.