jtherkal: It took this Heineken commercial to bring about a disagreement strong enough between myself and sjb to get us posting again. Me? I love it. It makes me laugh every time. The gag might not be that brilliant, but something about this just cracks me up. Something about the way the guys scream, and the way that one guy dances. And I’ll have to pay more attention to what’s on TV here, but I can’t find any versions of this on YouTube where the girl at the beginning is speaking English. Has this always been in German or whatever language that is? This doesn’t do anything to make me actually want to drink Heineken, but I remember it and I like it. A-.
sjbooher: I hate the way those guys act so much that it puts me in a bad mood and I don’t like talking about it. On the other hand, these guys do make me laugh:
It would be an F, but since it inspired LeBron to do good work, C.
jtherkal: After those sleek, fashionable black and white ads (which I didn’t love) this is an absolute disconnect and disgrace. They seemed to be building a mystique, making Gatorade seem top shelf, even classy. And to follow it up with a poorly done Monty Python ripoff–shameful. One of the keys of using athletes in commercials is understanding that most of them CAN NOT act (Lebron & Peyton being the exception). And if you’re going to do something like this, it has to be well written and amazingly funny. This is neither. Rarely, if ever, have I invoked sjb’s Ad Exec Masturbation classification, but this is worthy. It’s awful in every sense of the word. To think, your client is Gatorade. You can use some of the biggest stars in the world, and this is the trash you put out? It made me sick to my stomach to watch all nine minutes of this. Should have been aborted in the concept phase. Double F.
sjbooher: Wow. Ouch. I like it, but I’m completely biased. Usain Bolt’s head running around and Kareem’s cameo make me laugh every time. I definitely thought the same thing though, as far as being disconnected from the “What’s G?” part of the campaign. B.
sjbooher: I will say this… I didn’t know this 9 minute piece of crap existed. The edited quick hitters shown on TV are a big improvement.
jtherkal: I’m biased, since I wrote this. And the accompanying website is here at thatsnotcool.com. I think it strikes a nice balance of humor and delivering a somewhat serious message. I love you. JK. I hate you. JK. A.
sjbooher: Love. No, it’s not time for a serious breakfast! It’s time for NANERPUS!!!! So good. It’s Naaaaaaaaaaaaaa-nerpus! Best of the night. A+.
jtherkal: Great is right. At first I thought they messed up and used the wrong voice for Nanerpus–that it should sound more like a cartoon. But since this is so short, I’ve watched it about 60 times and now I love it. Banana, nana, nanar, nanerpus. A.
And if you can’t get enough Nanerpus, check this out:
sjbooher: I didn’t remember if the witnesses names were used (um, they were) during the shortened Super Bowl version, but in the long version, each lady is clearly modeled after one of the famed (infamed?) participants in the baseball steroids hearings. R. Lemons? Awesome. It’s easy to dismiss this as just a boob show (or easy to enjoy it AS just a boob show, ha), but actually it’s pretty well written. Nice attention to detail. (get it? who’s your daddy?). A.
jtherkal: I would have never seen the long version, if not posted here by my friend, so thanks. I’m trying to convince myself that I don’t like these commercials, since they’re just using tits to promote a website…but who am I kidding. Any time there might be a tit on TV, I’m in. And I believe the results have been tremendous (aside from a recent backlash from the Christian community, who apparently dislike giant melons). I guess I’ll give this an A. And in T&A. Whhhhooooooooooooaaaaa! This guy knows what I’m talking about.
sjbooher: FYI, I’ve been informed by one our 2 loyal readers (well, maybe 4 if you count us writin’ folk) that these ads are sexist. I say yes, they probably are, but ad folk don’t make the rules, they are just supposed to exploit them as much as possible. Where will you be GUARANTEED to find a sexist on Super Bowl Sunday? In front of his TV, which this ad, of course. Now he can go start up howtobeasexist.net on GoDaddy.com.
sjbooher: Awesome effects, dude. I like this one a lot. In these cold winter days, if your product can make the consumer think about a nice summer atmosphere for even a minute, it’s probably a win. A.
jtherkal: I feel like I’ve seen winter in the summer or summer in the winter a bunch of times before. I live in the cold. And no crappy lime-flavored Bud Light is going to make me forget that my feet are numb right now because the floor in my apartment is akin to an ice rink. Winter sucks, but there are beers made for winter. Like Guinness. Not Corona, not Bud Light Lime. Know your place. Also, I just don’t think it’s a very clever idea. Oh, look at me, my six pack turns winter into summer. Blah. D.
sjbooher: You are right on one account, at least. I definitely remember the Coors Light ads that sweep snow in on a hot summer day. So I guess I have to count this as a jack. Downgrade. B.
sjbooher: Ha, they got the original MacGyver. I really only two things about MacGruber — the opening song and the explosion shot at the end. The dialogue portion was not particularly funny and the jerky camera made me dizzy. I am also not sure what this does for Pepsi, or what it is suppose to emote. For this one to really work, I think it had to be one of those where the next day people were like, “Ha, and did you see that Pepsuber one?” Not sure if this pulled that off. A few other things I don’t know: a) How many people watch SNL and were already familiar with MacGruber? b) How many people that do not watch SNL, remember, or ever knew about, MacGyver? Finally, Kristen Wiig for mayor. C-.
jtherkal: I wasn’t familiar with MacGruber. I know about MacGyver. But if their target audience was 13-21 year old kids, I bet the answer is “some” to a, and “not many” to b. Now that I’ve answered your questions, I will say that people at my party definitely stopped to pay attention to this one. That being said, I sort of hate it. I guess maybe Pepsi thought they were refreshing MacGuyver? Or refreshing transparency in advertising? Who knows. Since I think the overall buzz was good, I’m going to set my dislike aside and give this one a B+.
They have some other cuts which didn’t air during the Super Bowl, so they don’t count. I like this one the best, but only the intro. The rest is lame:
sjbooher: I wish more people read this so I could find someone that could tell me the word for the emotion that commercials like this one make me feel. Honestly people, help a vocabulary-challenged brother out. The music… the sweet little boy… it’s supposed to make you feel all good inside, then you chuckle at the wind blowing out the candle… then you smile at the end. When I see it, I cringe, and I think “rip my eyeballs out, please.” I guess it’s an interesting way to talk about Wind Energy, though. B-
jtherkal: Wow, rip my eyeballs out, then a B-? That type of feeling is usually warrants an F. Maybe the word you’re looking for is cynical? Or repugnance? This was pretty weak, but in no way did it make me want to rip my eyeballs out. B.
sjbooher: Well, repugnance is what I do feel, but I’m looking for the description of the feeling that causes the repugnance. I literally do not even know how to explain what I am talking about, but I have this feeling often.
sjbooher: I thought this one was good. Seems like the tech-savvy portion of the world probably already knew about Hulu, but it probably had not gone completely mainstream yet, so why not announce yourself — basically an online tv network of sorts — during one of the biggest TV events of the year? Perfect platform and well-executed ad. A+.
jtherkal: What he said. Plus, I love 30 Rock. I love Alex Baldwin. I love Hulu. It just pains me to know that now I can’t use Alec in anything I do. Hulu done it first. A.