Well they say defense wins championships – which may be true but it sure makes for a boring championship game! Was hoping the commercials would offer the excitement I needed but did they deliver? Lets run done the spots from this year:
There were a lot of robots used in ads this year. Sprint, Michelob Ultra, Turbo Tax and Simple Safe all went with similar looking droids and because of this lack of originality they all cancel each other out.
We had our usual plethora of celebrity-endorsed spots and per usual we didn’t need the celebrities and they didn’t make the spots any better. Of note Christina Applegate M&M mom, Harrison Ford Amazon annoyed, Charlie Sheen and A-Rod in the Planters Peanuts (nuts) spot, Carrie Bradshaw from Sex in the City and the Big Labowski for Stella Artois and Luke Wilson close talker for Colgate (had to look up who he was) all made appearances that just were not needed. The only celebrity exception was Jason Bateman. He, unlike the others, played a very funny character in the role of an elevator man for Hyundai car shoppers. First laugh out loud spot of the night - strong contender for best commercial.
I didn’t understand the avocados from Mexico spot at all. I need another viewing to make sense of it I guess. But it did make me wonder when you go to the grocery store are you suppose to look for avocados only from Mexico. Are there avocados from other places? Would we really know the difference or care?
The second spot that made me laugh out loud was the guy chocking on a cashew and going to heaven where he meets his grandpa and gets his dream car. This one made me wonder – do you need to die to afford an Audi?
I do have a request: Stop with all the rappers as spokespeople already. You can’t understand what they are saying and I seriously doubt that rapper fans are a key audience for products like Expensify. (Doritos, maybe.)
Bud Light came on strong with every possible angle you can take including tying in to Game of Thrones final season. I did like seeing the Clydesdales make a return. And the Kia manufactured in GA commercial won for best sentimental spot.
But the best overall spot of the night has to go to the NFL. The NFL continues to improve their brand message and remind us all why it is the greatest sports organization of all time. The 100th anniversary commercial brought old and new football icons together for an up lighting, chaotic and hysterical spot. Thank you NFL for delivering and entertaining commercial (even if you couldn’t deliver an entertaining Super Bowl this year).