Super Bowl Top 5

No one could be more disappointed right now than an ad guy living in Chicago. I don't know which had a worse showing, the Chicago Bears or the commercials. The biggest problem with most of the Super Bowl commercials was simply they weren't Super Bowl Commercials. I felt like I was watching ads from Malcolm in the Middle reruns (with slightly bigger budgets). Are we just getting lazy? Is the TV spot really dying? Are clients just willing to throw money away these days? And what was with all the ads we had all already seen? My top 5 list was painfully difficult to put together. After the first three, it's really just choosing from a sea of mediocrity. So, here's my Super Bowl ads-that-barely-made-my-top-five list.

#1

Again, Emarald Nuts comes out strong with some bizarre, random funny. Goulet brings enough awkward celebrity power to make this spot stand out among the scabs.

#2

If you were at a crowded bar with people screaming at Rex Grossman, you might have missed this one. This spot lacks all traditional elements of a Super Bowl ad but it's funny, smart and actually does a good job if selling the FedEx service, which is just a bonus when it comes to Super Bowl ads. Everyone knows you don't really have to sell anything. Right, Bud Light?


#3

This spot got a lot of buzz before the game and rightly so. K-fed deserves big ups for not taking himself too seriously and Nationwide gets props for capitalizing on a celebrity's personal and professional demise with amazing timing.

#4

This ad makes number four because it's outrageous, stupid and way over-the-top. And isn't that what a Super Bowl ad is all about? At least someone was trying.

#5

Overall this campaign fell flat, but out of the three Career Builder commercials, this one had a few moments of promise. But where's the kicker? You know, it was either this or the E Trade "One Finger" spot. Either way, your left feeling unfulfilled and cold inside your heart. Or maybe that's just me.

A few Super Bowl Ad tidbits:
- Bud Light used the same throw-something-in-some-one's-face gag that Sprint used last year.

- The snickers commercial tells you to go to AfterTheKiss.com, which doesn't seem to be working right now. However, on the site it had a much funnier alt ending called "love boat." If they had run this alt ending it could have made my top 5.

- Honda makes some of the best commercials in the world. This year they had some of the most disappointing Super Bowl Commercial of all. What gives?

- Go Daddy continues to spends millions of dollars creating stupid Super Bowl commercials that reference an ad they created THREE YEARS AGO! Give it a rest.

- Out of the 4 Coke ads that ran, I had already seen 3, making the Super Bowl about as exciting as reading the ad blogs. Don't get me wrong the ad blogs are exciting, but please.

- No one knew who Sales Genie was before the Super Bowl. And now, no one cares.

- In theory, the Sierra Mist Commercials should be really funny. But they just aren't.

- You thought they learned their lesson last year, but again, Cadillac makes us yawn.

- For the second year in a row Jessica Simpson sells Cheesy Bites for Pizza Hut. I still have not tried Cheesy bites. But I think a third time might do it.

- FedEx took us back in time last year to the land of the dinosaurs. This year they took us into the future to the moon, where, apparently, humor no longer exists.

- I think there are still tickets available to Sheryl Crow's Hair tour. Did you know she's going to have a different hair color for each show? Her stylist must be having a fit.

- You can watch all the super bowl ads at iFilm.