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Tall Drink of Nerd: Super Sell
Some people yell at coaches and players on the TV during the big game, I yell at commercials when they are stupid. Because I’m planted in front of the TV on super Sunday, I’ll take this opportunity to fill this issue of Tall Drink of Nerd with my visceral reactions to Super Bowl XLV’s commercials. Let’s see if these ad agencies can convince me to patronize their clients.
Groupon – Good to see Cuba Gooding Jr. working. He’s a talented guy. Why is he not working more, or in film. This guy won an Oscar, right? Who is his management? (I already use Groupon., so Yes I will some more.)
Living Social – That was possibly the best use of “Change Your Life” I’ve ever seen. The sequence actually addressed what the service does and the variety of things Living Social covers. The reveal made me laugh out loud. Really liked the “Star Trek lighting” they used in the final shot (basically a box of light across the eyes, check out old Star Treks it’s in every single episode on Kirk or his lady friend of the day.) Yes, I will
Teleflora: If you got flowers and the card said you had a terrific rack, is it the thought that counts? Yes, I would. (How many girlfriends are gonna get that exact card this Valentimes Day?)
Movies
Just Go With It – Not going with it. Not going to it.
Battle: Los Angeles – Aliens invading LA? I’m totally in for this movie. It looks kick-ass. But since they’re invading LA, I’m thinking that the aliens are going to have a treatment for a movie script of a pitch for Real Housewives – Mars.
Cowboys and Aliens? Holy Crap! Yes, please!
Oh Michael Bay…I, personally, do not need a 3rd remake of the Transformers movie. I miss Megan Fox already.
Cars
Dear Chevy Cruze “Status” – I spend too much time on Facebook already. Do we really need OnStar agents reading our FB newsfeed? “John Smith just had a great Appletini!…” Will not.
The Audi 8 commercial was hilarious. Beautifully shot vignette of old and rich folks in a high-class pokey, soothed by Kenny G. I was wondering if this is what Bernie Madoff’s prison block looks like. Alas, I will not
Epic Journey: This Kia Optima commercial makes me think about actually buying a Kia. Usually I never remember which car commercial goes with which car, but the epic journey was entertaining and hey, I am in the market for a new car. Hyundai was looking good, because of Jeff Bridges mellow voiceover. But now I’m thinking I really do want to go from driving down the highway, to Poseidon’s palm, to an alien planet, to an Incan pyramid. Yes/Maybe I will be epic.
Volkswagon Passat with the tiny Darth Vader: It was leaked early. You all saw it here on FaN last week. Adorable. Winner!
Chevy Silverado HD: Since Lassie is no longer with us, it’s nice this guy has his truck to help save Timmy. Will anyone younger than GenX get this tho? I loved it, but I still make Lassie jokes. Yes, I’d consider it.
Doritos Commercials (I am guessing these are the top 3 viewer generated ads)
1. Doggy running into the door. Hurray for the dog on winning that confrontation against the douche-bag who thinks it’s hilarious to have a dog injure itself. Yes, I will…make a donation to the humane society. Not buying Doritos based on this.
2. Guy sucking cheese dust off another guys fingers or pants? I do not want to encourage people to lick me. No I won’t
3. Miracle Dorito’s bring the neglected fish, plants, and Grandpa’s ashes back to life. This one was genius. If there is a contest of the best viewer generated ad. We have a winner! Yes, I will
Junk Food ETC
Pepsi Max: That wife is only trying to help her husband stay healthy and stay away from bad foods. (Bonus points for a pie in the face joke.) Also, this should serve as a warning for any blonde, bimbo types who jog in leg-warmers, that they should not flirt with a man who is obviously sitting next to his lady. She totally had it coming. Yes, I will/would if I drank soda.
Snickers with Rosanne and Richard Lewis: The shine is off this idea a little, because it’s pretty much the same as the Betty White commercial. The idea is that Americans get whiney and lazy unless they’ve had their sugar. My husband laughed when Rosanne got clobbered by the log. I wasn’t amused.
Trident Vitality Gum – A bunch of sexy people throwing fruit at each other. I would chew a gum to make me sexy, but don’t want it to make me mental enough to be whipping an orange at other foxy folks. Dear Agency – Literally throwing your product in my face kinda douses my enthusiasm to use your product. No, I won’t
Budweiser – So seriously like 2 minutes after I had this thought “Most of the commercials I really like do NOT feature a celebrity. And I’m not digging this whole ‘Here we go.’ campaign from Bud”, here comes Peter Stormare in the best beer commercial of the day. I will hold you closer tiny Stormare. If I liked Bud, I would say yes to this.
Did anyone else notice that there were no Miller Lite or Coors commercials? The only other beer ad I saw was for Stella, which is owned by the same company as Bud. I don’t remember any other year with exclusive beer advertising rights. Is this a genius move for InBev?
Tech
Sony Ericksson Experia Play: Android-bot with grafted human thumbs is going to invade my dreams. Not in a good way.
Xoom – the Motorola Tablet: My initial thought was NICE! Really cool direction of pulling in the 1984 element from the Apple commercial of oh so many years ago . Love the automatons with their earplugs. Very well crafted. If I were in the market, heck yes I would!
Careerbuilder: Monkeys are funny. If you’ve ever seen any of the dozens of documentaries or Nova specials about how chimps are treated after they are out of that cute/funny/adorable phase used in commercials, ads with monkeys stop being funny. Sorry to play Debbie Downer, but No I won’t.
So did you watch the game or the commercials? Did you have any favs that I didn’t mention? Share with the group! Or just feel free to disagree with me about monkeys.
Watch all the commercials here.
I can’t believe that I actually like a bunch of these commercials. I’m pretty cynical, when it comes to commercials, so I had a better time than expected. Maybe it was because the Packers were winning. Hmmmm.
Nice synopsis for someone who says they don’t do synopsis’. I agree about the chimps. Maybe it’s just a problem with domesticating chimps. Won’t someone please think of the chimps.
Nice job lady.
Here is a phrase I would like to say daily “Thanks for agreeing with me about the chimps.”
I’m now also rethinking my like of Groupon. I hadn’t seen the Timothy Hutton ad until today and, oh man the seriously did ‘f’ up with that. I’d like to have been a fly on the wall in the meeting where the marketing geniuses came up with that idea. “HEY! Everybody loves those bumper stickers ‘Save Tibet’…What if we start the commercial like we’re going to raise money for charity and then say they make great soup?? Huh? Guys? Right? Boo yeah!”
Yay for this blog! I missed some of the commercials due to having to cook part of the time. Didn’t see the Living Social ad – thanks for sharing. There was one you didn’t mention that really made me laugh – Mean House tossing his cane to the churro-offering kid, but then I’m a House fan anyway and I’m old enough to remember the Mean Joe Green commercial well. Oh, and I’m with ya’ on the Transformers remake – bleh, though I am glad Megan Fox isn’t in it again – bleh.
As far as any commercials changing my buying plans, I think only Groupon made me think “Hey, I need to look into that.”
I’m wondering who is clambering for a 3rd Transformers? Oh and I lol’d at the House ad, I don’t watch House, but that commercial made me wonder if it was funny. Oh and that Fox promo with the football was fun (especially tossing to Walter of Fringe). There were a lot of funny ads I didn’t get to here, ’cause I’m lazy.
Yay for this blog! I missed some of the commercials due to having to cook part of the time. Didn’t see the Living Social ad – thanks for sharing. There was one you didn’t mention that really made me laugh – Mean House tossing his cane to the churro-offering kid, but then I’m a House fan anyway and I’m old enough to remember the Mean Joe Green commercial well. Oh, and I’m with ya’ on the Transformers remake – bleh, though I am glad Megan Fox isn’t in it again – bleh.
As far as any commercials changing my buying plans, I think only Groupon made me think “Hey, I need to look into that.”
I didn’t watch the game yesterday and have only caught up with the commercials today, but the one that is missing from this list and tops mine was the Chrysler/Emineme commercial. That one actually came up in a few conversations today and online a bit. I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets talked about over the next year. Being from Lansing, MI watching that add made the hair on my arms stand up. I have a lot of love for Detroit and the Big 3, or what’s left of them, so that one just hit me.
I really liked that ad too. It was very moving, the shots were cool in a way that seemed appropriate for Detroit. The script was great and the choir at the end of the commercial was transcendent. Good call! Thanks for the link to that one. Eminem’s commercial for Brisk is another story…
http://www.youtube.com/user/chrysler?bid=5079147&adid=233347236&pid=57249858&KWNM=chrysler+commercial&KWID=150763201&channel=PS
You didn’t address Christina Aguilera screwing up the national anthem! Other than that your reviews were spot on. :)
I enjoyed a handful of these commercials very much. My top three by far were:
1. Chrysler Eminem/Detriot Commercial (Loved it)
2. Volkswagon Passat – “The Force” Commercial (Adored it)
3. The Sealy Mattress Commercial (Genius)
Totally agree, Amy.
I did think there were too many movie trailer ads and after a while, they kind of got annoying. The Aliens vs. Cowboys was unexpected… but the others seemed just ho-hum.
Exactly, I thought I’d be more jazzed about Captain America or Thor, but…meh.