Best and worst Super Bowl ads
Note: Click on the ad title to watch a video of that ad.
The best and the worst of Sunday’s Super Bowl ads, which are usually better than the game itself, but the game actually lived up to the hype this year.
The best ads
Careerbuilder.com — “Tips”: Easily the best commercial of the night. The way it kept building (“Hey dummy,” punching the Koala bear in the face), kept you watching until the end.
Cars.com — “Confidence”: Touched on something everyone can relate to. We all have something in our lives that fill us with dread. Even a guy like David Abernathy.
Hulu.com — “Alec and Huluwood”: Actually, it really isn’t all that surprising to learn that Alec Baldwin is an alien.
NBC — “LMAO”: WTG. LOL. GTG. B9.
Heroes — “Football”: Great commercial, especially John Elway’s appearance, but is the new season of “Heroes” going to be so bad that instead of teasing you with clips, they did this instead?
Doritos — “Crystal Ball”: The first real laugh out loud moment of the night. Nothing says comedy like a crystal ball to the groin.
Pedigree — “Crazy Pets”: Combines a great message (adopt a dog) with great images: What if we were forced to use other animals as our pets instead.
Pepsi — “Refresh Anthem”: From Bob Dylan to Will.i.am, Pepsi has been there for it all.
The worst ads
Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes — “Plant a seed”: So, the message is basically “Hey parents, load your kids up on sugary cereal, then send them to the park unsupervised!”
Firestone — “Taters”: I enjoyed the jokes in this ad featuring Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head much more when they were in a little movie called “Toy Story.”
GE — “Scarecrow”: And the pimping out of our classic movies continues.
GoDaddy.com — “Enhancement”: Despite all these years of Super Bowl ads, I still have no clue what godaddy.com sells. After each one I do, however, always have a feeling that my tires are overinflated.
Cash4Gold.com — “Heeere’s Money”: Instead of taking financial advice from Ed McMahon and Hammer, you ought to go ahead and just burn your money. It’s quicker.
Castrol Oil — “Monkeys”: Buy this product and you too can make out with a chimpanzee.
Bud Light — “Meeting”: Instead of layoffs, a guy suggests not buying Bud Light for every meeting. He gets laid off and thrown out of a window. Too unbelievable. Next, you’ll be saying they will lay off guys who sit around and review commercials. Don’t be ridic.... (Editor’s note: This review has been ended due to cutbacks. We wish the writer success in his future endeavors.)
-- Houston Mitchell
Photo: Do you want to punch this cute Koala bear in the face? Credit: careerbuilder.com
in regards to the frosted flakes ad and the plant a seed program:
do you really want to discourage corporations from doing public good in these uncertain times by bringing your own prejudices to your review?
yeah, it's a sugary cereal, but "hey parents... send your kids to the park unsupervised." really?
you seem perfectly comfortable rewarding ads featuring blows to the groin and violence toward animals... maybe you should check out frostedflakes.com and the program itself before your dismiss it.
Posted by: betsy wilson | February 01, 2009 at 10:01 PM
in regards to the frosted flakes ad and the plant a seed program:
do you really want to discourage corporations from doing public good in these uncertain times by bringing your own prejudices to your review?
yeah, it's a sugary cereal, but "hey parents... send your kids to the park unsupervised." really?
you seem perfectly comfortable rewarding ads featuring blows to the groin and violence toward animals... maybe you should check out frostedflakes.com and the program itself before your dismiss it.
Posted by: betsy wilson | February 01, 2009 at 10:02 PM
Worst was the Teleflora ad. It was honestly sort've painful to watch a woman just sit there and get insulted, in a rather brutal manner. It wasn't funny and honestly, I would never use their service after seeing such a mean-spirited commercial. The Koala one was also REALLY annoying. Funniest was the Monkeys, the Dorito crystal ball, and the Denny's commercial with the maffia guys.
Posted by: Alex O | February 02, 2009 at 08:49 AM
Wow. You must be watching from a very different perspective than I was. I found the Careerbuilder ad the worst of the lot, and an utter waste. Never did I wish more for the TIVO than during that commercial.
Posted by: Emma | February 02, 2009 at 08:52 AM
The best ads were the Pepsi ad, the Doritos ad and the Bud Lite ad. I thought that most of the ads that the reviewer though were the best were the worst because they made no sense. Where did the Times get this reviewer from?
I guess there is no accounting for taste.
Posted by: Bradford Talamon | February 02, 2009 at 09:25 AM