Comments on: Super Bowl Ads Disappointing

By: Chad Anderson

Chad Anderson — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 19:19:44 +0000

I found it a tad weird that the writer was so struck by the cartoon violence (as others have noted, it’s pretty standard fare for ads during football games, whether there’s a war on or not) but went on to name as the best a GM ad in which “a factory robot ‘obsessed about quality’ imagined the dire outcome of making a mistake.” In the ad, the robot has a dream about getting fired, in which he spirals downward toward suicide, jumping off a bridge. I found that a bit more jarring, given the fact that GM is in the middle of eliminating thousands of jobs, and it’s not too far-fetched to imagine some of those human workers spiraling downward themselves.

By: Anthony D.

Anthony D. — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 02:40:06 +0000

I didn’t think much of most of the Super Bowl ads, either; the only one I really liked was the Blockbuster one (which revived the two animals from a series of ads from a few years back, in the pre-Netflix era…).

By: John

John — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 19:44:13 +0000

Ads during sporting events tend to concentrate everything I try to keep away from my kids in regular broadcast TV – even the Olympics. I am always totally suprised by the high level of sexism and pseudo violence that pops up in that sphere that is more appropriate to, like, 10 p.m. cop dramas. I’m no prude, but sheesh. Anyhow, didn’t watch the Super Bowl, don’t like football . . .

By: ~chris

~chris — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 17:53:15 +0000

That Grand-Theft-Auto-ish Coke add is an old one; it’s been showing in movie theaters.

I missed the rabbit ad, but I enjoyed the Budweiser ad about the white dog having a really bad day until…

By: Rob Staeger

Rob Staeger — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 17:46:41 +0000

It was actually for Emerald Nuts, IIRC. It was pretty kooky.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 17:34:00 +0000

I haven’t seen that one, or the KFed one mentioned. I’ll have to check them out later.

By: Rob Staeger

Rob Staeger — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 17:17:52 +0000

My favorite was the ad for Robert Goulet’s nuts. (Or something like that.)

By: Dan Coyle

Dan Coyle — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 17:04:41 +0000

Man, Bugsy Malone is seriously weird. I'm glad I skipped the Super Bowl this year, spending most of the time reading Ode to Kirihito.

By: Barry

Barry — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 16:27:15 +0000

I actually liked the K-Fed commercial. I really did.

By: Rich Barrett

Rich Barrett — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 15:35:39 +0000

Even that Blockbuster ad relied on cartoon-like violence technically. My favorites of the sad bunch were the Career Builder ads with the office workers in Lord of the Flies settings. Youtube has all of the spots up here.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 15:30:54 +0000

Oh, yes, thanks for the reminder. I liked that one for two reasons -- it was about good deeds instead of terrible ones, and the end song was from Bugsy Malone (that silly 70s kids-as-gangsters movie), which made KC laugh.

By: Lyle

Lyle — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 15:27:36 +0000

Joshua, that one was easily my favorite and the only one I tried to get my partner to watch. I could stand to see that one saturate my TV, that’s an ad that’d get me to rewind if I were FF’ing past it on the DVR.

By: Joshua Macy

Joshua Macy — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 14:48:23 +0000

I saw a couple of them, but the one I liked was the Coke ad based on Grand Theft Auto. I found myself thinking, "I'd play that game."