SUMMER SLUMP? Will Smith’s ‘MIB3′ Slows … 
Cannes Finale: The Jury Talks And Hammond’s Analysis … 
Nicole Kidman Speaks Out On Taking Risks, Roles And Taking … 
Oscilloscope Takes U.S. Rights To ‘Reality’ 
‘Mud’: Did Cannes Save One Of The Best For … 
Cannes Podcast: Pete Hammond On ‘Lawless’, … 
Over-Achievers Of This Year’s Upfront 
Aussie Pay-TV Shakeup Impacts Hollywood 
USA: ‘Rebounding’ & ‘Modern … 
Interview: Philip Kaufman At Cannes With ‘Hemingway … 
R.I.P. Television Mogul Lee Rich 
Cannes Biz Shines Despite Wind & Rain 
Full 2011-2012 TV Season Series Rankings 
2011-12 Season Network Rankings: Fox Still On Top But Down, … 
HLN Set To Air Daytime Emmy Awards 
Grant Bowler Cast As Richard Burton Opposite Lindsay Lohan … 
UPDATE: Dish Network And Broadcasters Ask Courts To Decide … 
Cannes Surprise Screening: Change Of Plans On Juan Antonio … 
Kevin Hart In Talks To Join Kevin James In ‘Valet … 
Anthony Hopkins Up For ‘Red 2′ Villain; Can … 
Cannes Conflicted Over ‘The Paperboy’ As … 
UPDATES Here’s That Dave, Jay, Oprah, Super Bowl Ad
UPDATES Hot Super Bowl Spot: ‘The Last Airbender’
UPDATES Few Films Advertising For Super Bowl XLIV
The Super Bowl used to showcase the best of the ad biz. But Madison Avenue has grown as uncreative as Hollywood, judging from this year’s lame-ass commercials. Bridgestone’s “Killer Shark” ripped off The Hangover. CareerBuilder’s “Casual Fridays” thought men’s tighty whities were a laugh riot. Monster showcased a violin-playing “Beaver”. Budweiser ads really sucked. But all those Doritos ads made by aspiring filmmakers get my vote for the worst.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
Loading ...
Couldn’t agree more…ads were a yawn, and even more interesting is that a large percentage were CBS “house ads”, which they don’t get a dime for.
Apparently there are fewer advertisers willing to pay $ 3 mil for 30 seconds, or for good writing/production.
Fortunately, the game made up for it!
The Dorritos ad with the “Don’t Touch My Mama” kid was the best ad of the night, hands down.
Yeah… and Brees deserved the MVP more than the kicker. /sarcasm
stick to what you do best, cynicism and lackluster attempts at humor.
drew brees (statistically) played one of the best game in super bowl history. and i had money on the colts.
The Letterman, Leno, and Oprah commercial was quite memorable.
You forgot the Dennys commercials.
I can’t believe how tasteless the Doritos commercials were! Were they done by the same guys who did the bad Budweiser Super Bowl commercials a handful of years ago??
The doritos commercials were made by aspiring filmmakers who submitted their commercials to the Doritos Crash The Superbowl contest- http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/#/winners. I believe the winner gets a million dollars. And I agree with 40yearoldstitzer- I loved the one with the little boy!
this was def one of those years where the game was much better than the ads…
Seriously, was there a memo sent out that said, “Gee, football is only for guys, let’s be as misogynistic as possible?” Because really, the way the Dodge Charger ad came off, only wimpy, spineless, whiny guys would buy it. And obviously, Dodge doesn’t think women actually buy cars. Nor, apparently, does Bud think we drink beer.
I made the same exact comment to my husband. The ads made it seem like guys have no balls because all us bitchy, controlling, fun-killing women have stolen them. Insulting to both men and women.
The beaver was awesome, even though it was an inefficient commercial.
I thought the Doritos’ ones were by far the funniest. The Letterman, Leno, and Oprah one bombed completely.
Green Police / Audi TDI was the best spot
Disagree. I would have considered buying an Audi before seeing that stupid ad. But that commercial wasted too much of my time, and pissed me off enough to ever consider their product in the future.
Yes, it’s always a terrific idea for a GERMAN company to have the police breaking down the doors of people’s homes & arresting them for bullshit stuff!
That was a terrible spot & you can bet it won’t be shown after today.
I half-expected them to re-enact Kristallnacht at non-green businesses.
Totally disagree. A commercial like that seemed like Al Gore’s wet dream come true. A total police state motivated by his whims and desires.
Use a light bulb that doesn’t meet specifications? Prepare to be arrested, citizen, and stripped of your property. You will be black bagged and never heard from again…
The images of people literally running for their lives from the “Green Police” is not cute, funny or even tongue-in-cheek.
File that commercial under WTF were they thinking?
Seriously. The worst. EVER.
Yes, the ads don’t seem as much fun as in years past.
And the game wasn’t that exciting either, though I’m glad for the Saints!
google ad- best of the night
Why is Google advertising? They’re the one company in the world that doesn’t need to advertise. When you can’t find something you “Google it” You don’t “Bing it” or “Yahoo it”
Google doesn’t need to advertise. It’s almost like they were bragging about how much money they have.
“Part two” of the Google ad has already hit youtube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7QuvBs-QfE
If you think this years commercials were the worst ever you have a very very short memory….a VERY short memory.
The Betty White – Abe Vigoda Snickers ad was hilarious.
Doritos ad with dog putting the shock collar on his owner was the dumbest ad and as poorly directed as I can remember. However, The Who was by far the funniest part of the telecast. Daltry looked like Sharon Gless with the scarf and bad perm, and I swear Townsend had creamed corn dripping from his mouth. Can’t believe it wasn’t sponsored by Plavix, Lipitor, Depends and Geritol.
They SUCKED. Exception: Betty White Snickers commercial. I liked the game. Man, FAST (few penalties, injuries, video replays, etc.)
I was watching the superbowl from Vancouver, BC on an american feed and – though I loved the game and the Who- I also couldn’t help noticing how the much vaunted superbowl ads were beyond lame- so unbelievably played out. I didn’t know they still made ads featuring cutesy animals with human-like prowess…at one point there were like back to back “guys wearing underwear” ads…the second was for Levi’s or something…and those Dorito’s ads….early on there was actually an ad by them about some guy choking on a dog collar that was supposed to illicit peals of laughter while he convulsed on the pavement while a dog enjoyed his nacho chips…beyond weird and unfunny…
MOST.DRAMATIC.HEADLINE.EVER.NIKKI.
Could not agree more NIKKI!!!! This was the least creative of any superbowl commercials EVER. Best and most shocking was the dave/jay/oprah one — I still can’t believe they were in the same room together.
Yawn! Superbowl commercials have steadily declined in quality and humor, since the Janet Jackson/JT incident. I’m just saying…..
The Snickers ad with Betty White and Abe Vigoda was by far the best.
The Green Police stuff was funny but not the way the commercial intended it. It made me want to go out and buy an SUV, a Hummer! The commercial made “Green” equal fascist. Probably an uncomfortable sidling up to the truth. Green is bunk and about controlling people’s lives and social conformity, nothing else.
The funniest commercial was with Brett Favre as MVP, 2020. I don’t know what they were selling though.
I was surprised by the Doritos Commercial. Single motherhood is a definite plague upon the Black community — 90% in the urban core. Pretty much a poverty generator. Maybe its just the normalization of single motherhood. The new standard.
The ads were striking in how much they differed from the usual stuff aimed solely at women. There was more humor, generally, and a more male orientation. It only looks odd when you compare it to the usual female oriented stuff.
Agreed with the first comment. The CBS house ads screamed “we could not sell our inventory in a recession.” Is this the indicator of a down ad market?
Super Bowl ads usually skew towards man-stuff: beer, tire & erectile drugs, crotch kicking, farts, etc. This year was no different, except some of the spots did seem a bit more mean-spirited than usual. Not so much the usual “goofy men are cool,” but “men suck who do emasculating things like…help around the house.” The Dodge Charger closeups/voiceovers really came of as creepy, serial killer-y to me. As for the Doritos single mom commercial–hey–at least she’s trying to meet a new man, no? I liked the Google ad, but overall a weak year. The Simpsons Coke ad seemed so forced and out of character…whereas the one from a few years ago with the giant balloons was brilliant.
The dodge commercials were voiceovers by Michael C Hall (serial killer, Dexter)
The Doritos ads were created by various groups and people, not agencies. The casket ad was actually made by a church in L.A that has many members who work in the tv/movie industry.
flo tv “moments” was good……..in fact rebuilt the who’s career’s after there half time show…..was that Bad or what?
Huh?
I’m furious about the Flo mobile TV “My Generation” spot: Jack Ruby shooting Oswald, Manson, Regan assasination attempt, SF earthquake, O.J., LA Riots, Tim McVeigh, Waco, bin Laden, 9/11, Iraq, Katrina, Haiti and then Will.i.am???
Absolutely repulsive. Thought today there’d be some backlash over that insult of an “ad”.