Discussing
What this year’s Super Bowl commercials said about us

It was easy to see myself in Chrysler's ad. I live in the Detroit Metro.

Very neat compilation =)

As I sat and watched the commercials of this year's Super Bowl, one question came to mind: "How many people watching this tonight will go out and buy a car?" I mean, someone who desperately needs a car and has no clue where to start....are they sitting on the couch watching the Super Bowl and all of a sudden a light clicks on, "I now know which car to buy!" If so, I hope they get a lemon. The only time I saw myself in those ads would be when I saw that little Darth Vader. Now, that was gold, but than again I only watch the Bowl for the movie trailers anyway!

I have written and produced many television spots, so this season is always a Superbowl of advertising to me. I could care less about the football.

These kind of ads are not direct response or retail ads. Their goal is brand preference, not an immediate retail response. Their fondest hope is that Ford will be percieved as the cool brand of 20 somethings, whose brand preferences are not as fixed yet as older folks. They are hoping that when the time does come for this demographic to begin shopping for a car, Ford will be acceptable and it will be at the top of the list. I thought the ad was heavy-handed pandering to this crowd. If it was competitive, it was group competition. The guy with the perfect emo-faux hawk looked like the wardrobe person shopped carefully, all the chirpy enthusiasm was patently phony. The client had a transparent desire to be cool with a social media tie in. No one in their right mind would follow the adventures of a handful of actors driving across the country in a Ford Focus. This ad reeks of insecurity. Looked like it was designed by committee and client and didn’t work for me. The Pepsi 1 ads seemed like a very old recycled concept, they were not funny and seemed mean. They also looked very client-driven to me, like the client wanted to hammer home in the most literal way the benefits of a one calorie soda. The Chrysler ads were exceptionally crafted but too weepy, schmaltzy. I was waiting for a surprise which never came. All-in-all the ads seemed pretty weak. They had none of the imagination of Nike ads, the outrageous humor of past beer ads or the over the top humor of the hilarious cat herding ads from EDS in 2006. I suppose it is a reflection of the economy. They were conservative, not funny, client driven with modest production budgets. Spots like the Ford ads tried too hard to say something about us and failed.

Actually I saw a return to “family values” with the Volkswagon ads which were were charming and got a chuckle. The NFL ads were saturated in warm nostalgia. The only thing missing were the great beer ads of yore. When I watch these client driven spots, I feel almost like I am reading the creative brief that the account executives give the writer and art director.

What this crop of ads tell me is that we are fearful, conservative, yearning for happier times, confused, insecure and nesting with our nuclear family.

the Doritos resurrection ad caught my eye. :)

We prefer crudeness of expression to eloquence
We prefer violence in our entertainment
We prefer luxury to economy except when it comes to gas mileage
We prefer fantasy to reality
We prefer the erotic to the chaste
And, while not a commercial, we equate the heroism of Normandy and 911, the ideals of a John Kennedy and Dr. King, to the competition of athletes in a game!

Yeah...what is this preoccupation Doritos has lately with the resurrection, the Eucharist, the Father Son and Holy Spirit? Check out their also rans on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... My understanding was that most of these were contributed by consumers. I could be cynical and take offense or wonder why the Christian faith suddenly has a top of mind awareness. Strange.

I missed the Budweiser Clydesdales playing football---