February is Super Bowl month, and considering the $2.4 million price tag for airing a 30-second commercial on the game, it still astounds me just how many forgettable, or even worse, embarrassing, commercials are produced for what many consider advertising's premiere pop culture showcase. Among the loooowlights: a soul diva diving for a rugby ball, a basketball bad boy soaking in bubble bath, a non-sweating "mama's boy" doll and a city of flirtatious bubble people.
Thankfully there were some memorable Super Bowl ad moments that lived up to the "Super" spot buy. I'm tired of inside-advertising jokes, and I'm not particularly interested in seeing Burt Reynolds in anything these days, but FedEx's "Top 10" provided a funny commentary on what's become a trusty formula for generating maximum buzz: a celebrity; dancing, talking animal; famous pop song; and groin kick, among others. Anheuser-Busch tapped most of those elements in its mammoth spot buy. While many would say the best from the brewer was a spot applauding our armed forces, my favorite was much more light-hearted-a Bud Light spot in which a skydiver instructor tries to tempt a tentative jumper with a pack of beer thrown out of the plane. Instead, the pilot jumps. A follow-up to last year's donkey-turned Clydesdale joke, with all sorts of animals running for a tryout, seemed all too insider-y to me, since most viewers aren't ad geeks and are unlikley to remember last year's charming underdog tale. First-time game advertiser GoDaddy.com took an amusing jab at last year's wardrobe malfunction with a spokeswoman's cleavage-bearing dance-always an attention getter. Pepsi, always a crowd-pleaser, didn't disappoint. This year, it was with a Diet Pepsi ad that seemed all too familiar, women ogling a hot guy holding a soda can, until Queer Eye's Carson Kressley tops them all with a jaw-dropping about-face and follow. A refreshing twist on a classic.
Most surprising was a campaign debut from Ameriquest that centered on a no-judgements theme: a guy talking on his cell phone is mistaken for a gunman and beaten up by shop owners; and another spot with a woman walking in to find what she thinks is her date making a meal out of the pet cat, which is actually splattered with pasta sauce. Funny, smart and no talking animals.
The rest of the month wasn't without notable spot debuts. For those who worry that advertising is getting more and more conservative, look no further than a new Burger King spot. The chain served up a "fantasy ranch" à la David La-Chapelle that's as playfully sinful as the Bacon Cheddar Ranch chicken sandwich it sells. Hootie's Darius Rucker sings to the music of "Big Rock Candy Mountain," but the sexual innuendos, bouncing girls in short shorts, and the bright oversized set steal the show.
-Eleftheria Parpis
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