Obligatory List of Best, Worst, Notable Super Bowl XLIV Commercials (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on February 8, 2010
The day after the Super Bowl, critiques for the super-expensive Super Bowl ads are purt-near obligatory.
My own roundup of personal choices of the best, worst, and notable Super Bowl XLIV commercials are below with brief critiques and accompanying videos… at a staggering $3 million a pop for a 30-second ad, you’d think they would have all been brilliant. Some were, but others stunk mightily to the rafters.
Number 1 Best: Beautiful, understated commercial from Focus on the Family with Tim Tebow and his mother. For all the weeks of controversy, this ad was nothing for pro-abortionists to get their panties in a wad over… but they likely will. AP has already misreported what was in the ad… figures.
Focus on the Family, Tim Tebow & Mom – 2010 Super Bowl XLIV Commercial
Number 2 Best: Who doesn’t adore the feisty Betty White? That old gal is a marvel… outstanding choice by Snickers for this funny ad. They also used veteran sitcom actor Abe Vigoda… loved it.
Snickers Football with Betty White & Abe Vigoda – 2010 Super Bowl XLIV Commercial
Number 3 Best: This one made me laugh out loud… I don’t usually find screaming chickens funny, but Denny’s outdoes itself in this terrific Super Bowl ad (and the free Grand Slam Tuesday breakfast offer appeals to the frugalista in me). Be sure to note the brilliance of the chicken screaming in outer space. The “Oval Office chicken” with Secret Service chickens wearing sunglasses was also terrific. “Great day to be an American, bad day to be a chicken.” Thumbs up.
Denny’s Free Grand Slam Tuesday – Chickens Across America – Super Bowl XLIV
Number 4 Best: Fun trip down Cinema Memory Lane with the Griswolds, and the snide “complementary” play on words was unexpected and fabulous — it cracked every one up at our Super Bowl party.
The Griswolds, Hotel Hell Vacation, HomeAway.com Commercial – Super Bowl XLIV
Number 5 Best: Nothing really new here with a colt and a bull calf, as it echoes previous Super Bowl Clydesdale ads from Budweiser, but I still liked it. Excellent images, soaring music… gave me goose bumps, even though I could see where it was heading. The quick clip to the Dalmatian was a hat tip to a previous commercial.
Budweiser – “Fences” – Clydesdale Horse and Bull – 2010 Super Bowl XLIV Commercial
Number 6 Best: I always get a bit of a kick out of the talking baby ads for E Trade. I was amused by the wolf reference, and the “milk-aholic” girlfriend Lindsey popping in at the end was even funnier for all of us at my sister’s Super Bowl party, since my niece’s (her daughter’s) name is Lindsey. Heh, heh.
E Trade, Baby Girlfriend – 2010 Super Bowl XLIV Commercial
Notables… not brilliant, but still pretty good.
Number 1 Notable: Lovely Google ad, but boring for the jocks at our party and it really didn’t reveal anything about Google that Internet users didn’t already know. Not sure why the search engine giant felt compelled to advertise during the Super Bowl. But a sweet, unusual ad, nonetheless.
Google – “Parisian Love” – 2010 Super Bowl XLIV Commercial
Number 2 Notable: This Simpsons ad for Coke focusing on Mr. Burns was a departure from previous ads. Touching. Unexpected. I rather liked it.
The Simpsons Coca-Cola Commercial – 2010 Super Bowl XLIV Commercial
Numbers 3 and 4 Notable: Two amusing “Crash the Super Bowl” Doritos ads… the first, hilarious taser use, in the second, just good old-fashioned, fun Super Bowl-type male craziness.
Doritos® – Crash the Super Bowl 2010 Finalist – Kids These Days – 2010 Super Bowl XLIV Commercial
Doritos® – Crash the Super Bowl 2010 Finalist – The Smackout – 2010 Super Bowl XLIV Commercial
Number 5 Notable: Not bad, but not all that great. So much more could have been done with using the rock group Kiss in a Dr. Pepper ad. I was mildly disappointed.
Dr. Pepper with Kiss – Little Kiss of Cherry – 2010 Super Bowl XLIV Commercial
Now for the losers…
Number 1 Worst: I truly hated this Audi commercial… while its creative use of music was spot-on, the “green police” message didn’t have enough satire and instead screamed as a smug thumbs-up for government-takeover and loss of free will. Horrible. I had no idea it was a car commercial until the end. It felt so anti-American, which was a nasty slam against the millions upon millions of conservatives watching the Super Bowl. Fascist nightmare… a bleak peak into America’s future with cap and trade mandates and imprisonment? No thanks — and now I’ll never consider buying an Audi. Statists and nutbar environmentalists likely are giving this the “green seal of approval.”
My hubby disagrees with me… he LOVED it, and believes Audi was being ultra-smart with its anti-government tongue-in-cheek approach to what our nation will be like if the “green police” takes tyrannical control of our lives and our use of hot tubs, lightbulbs, and Styrofoam cups. Rush Limbaugh apparently liked it, too. Check out Michelle Malkin’s in-depth write-up on it.
I still hate it. You decide.
Audi 2010 Green Car Super Bowl, “Green Police” – 2010 Super Bowl XLIV Commercial
Number 2 Worst: Our tax dollars were dished out for this lame, yawn-producing census ad. Bye-bye to $2.5 million that could have been used to pay for our maintenance and fuel for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s private jet.
US Census 2010 – 2010 Super Bowl XLIV Commercial
Number 3 Worst: The Go Daddy’s ads were predictably sexist and lamer than previous years. They obviously tried to recapture the “glory days” of the web host’s first set of controversial sexy Super Bowl commercials. Was really sorry to see Danica Patrick in them… she’s better than this. If you’re interested, here’s the link to the Go Daddy ad with “Lola” that was banned from the Super Bowl.
Go Daddy with Danica Patrick – 2010 Super Bowl XLIV Commercial
Number 4 Worst: Emerald Nuts and Pop Secret popcorn paid big bucks to make this stupid, rather repulsive commercial and then paid millions to air it. Yuck. A lot of people liked this ad, so maybe I just have an aversion to humans acting like killer whale performers.
Emerald Nuts & Pop Secret – “Awesomer” – 2010 Super Bowl XLIV Commercial
Number 5 Worst: A jumbo casket filled with Doritos at a funeral that tips over is neither funny nor appealing. Macabre, lame, and in sophomoric bad taste.
Doritos® – Crash the Super Bowl 2010 Finalist – Casket – 2010 Super Bowl XLIV Commercial
Related:
Jules Crittenden: WhoDat And The Why?
Flopping Aces: The Green Police
HillBuzz: The reason we think that “Green Police” ad is so funny in Chicago
Ace of Spades HQ: Audi’s Very Mixed-Message “Green” Ad
Obi’s Sister: The Screaming Chickens Edition
VotingFemale: Progressives’ Political Tactics, Ego, and Superbowl Ads
Michael Walsh, Big Journalism: Evening Thread: What Was All the Fuss About That Tebow Ad, Again?
Jeffrey Jena, Big Hollywood: Super and Not So Super Ads: Will.i.am? Green Police?
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Say It Ain’t So… Obama Will Be Interviewed Live… during Sunday’s Super Bowl Pre-Game Show
Blog de KingShamus: Do we really need to see an Obama interview during the Super Bowl?
The Anchoress: Tebow, CBS & Perpetual Adolescents
Fire Andrea Mitchell!: The big evil Pam Tebow & Tim Tebow Focus on the Family Super Bowl Commercial
Liberal Whoppers: AP fabricates ad content in slamming Tebow ad
Gateway Pundit: Poll Shows Americans Favor Tim Tebow Ad By 2-1 Margin and Obama Can’t Resist – Will Appear on TV Super Bowl Sunday
GayPatriot: Was CBS wrong to reject gay dating site’s Super Bowl ad?
NewsReal Blog: Shocking: AP Misreports Tebow Ad Content
About the author
I agree, the \Green\ Audi commercial made my skin crawl. So did the census one.
Agreed. The Audi ad had me thinking “If O had his way…”. My son loved the screaming chickens. All I have to say to him is “bad day for chickens” and he still roars.
And I loved the geek sumo wrestling ad. No glue what KGB is, but good commercial. http://superbowlads.fanhouse.com/2010/kgb-sumo-wrestling/
[...] and Breaking News… Controversial Rep. John Murtha Has Died Following Surgery Complications and Obligatory List of Best, Worst, Notable Super Bowl XLIV Commercials (video) and Sudden POTUS Flip-Flop: Obama Hasn’t Ruled Out NYC Trial for 9/11 Terrorist Planner [...]