sjbooher: JOKE IN A CAN ALERT! JOKE IN A CAN ALERT! JOKE IN A CAN ALERT! “I loved that song, until you ruined it.” “Who sings this? Let’s keep it that way.” I’m not even sure what the point of this was. American Idol has plenty of viewers, so did they really need to get this elaborate? A simple reminder would have probably sufficed. Hell, maybe they were just having a little fun. Still stupid. D-.
jtherkal: Ugh. Anything involving nipple clamping or belly buttons makes me want to puke. Not a good feeling to evoke when you’re trying to sell a drink. And all from such a horrifically overused formula. Person can’t do something. Person uses product. Miraculously person can now do something. We assume product is responsible.
This was mildly amusing, at best. The only redeeming factor is that it brought me back to the sixth grade roller-rink with Push It. Yo baby pops, yeah you, come here give me a kiss, better make it fast or else I’m gonna get pissed, can’t you hear the music pumpin’ hard like I wish you would? Now push it. Push it real good. That’s from memory. D.
sjbooher: Ugh is right. So now we’ve had a fat guy clamping his nipples, a horribly disgusting women and a dog’s slobber all used to sell food or drink products? Doesn’t it always feel better when you alone are not the stupid one? Somebody organize a happy hour for the various people behind these mistakes. F.
jtherkal: This is exactly where Victoria’s Secret should be. Once again in front of millions of grown men who spent their formative years conducting one-on-one study sessions with the catalog. And now we’re old enough to have real ladies. And yes, if we’ve behaved, they will be waiting for us after the game. Great concept, great line(let the real games begin), great placement (near the end of the game), great ad. My only criticism is this: why not show more ladies? I mean, maybe some of us like blonds. Or redheads or Latinas or black girls or Asians or girls with buzz cuts or girls with big, fake knockers. Splash up a little variety for us. We’re a melting pot. A-.
sjbooher: An amazingly beautiful lingerie model twirling a football. Perfection. Oh, and all that intelligent ad stuff my cohort said. A+.
jtherkal: I like Chad Johnson. I secretly like The Moment of Truth. I don’t like this commercial. They took what was a very promising situation and delivered a very vanilla result. How was that the show that couldn’t be more truthful? D.
sjbooher: Agreed. Much like the Shaq Vitamin Water spot, they failed to utilize the potential of their star. I’ve seen this show too, and I think this fails to accentuate the draw of the show. This is the ad for some sort of comedy show, not Moment Of Truth. I think just showing actual clips of the show, with the participants’ expressions, is the best way to draw new viewers. This spot only serves as a comedic take to people who are already watching.
jtherkal: I’m not even going to pretend to understand what this means. Man likes Gatorade like dogs like water? Man drinks dogs? Dogs love Gatorade? Gatorade would drink Gatorade? The setup got my attention, and did make me feel kind of thirsty, but the payoff was terrible. Didn’t fit the Gatorade brand at all. Was this a consumer created ad? Or did some ad-man trick Gatorade into buying a video he made of his dog? D-.
sjbooher: I agree. No idea what they are trying here, unless it’s: “Our drink tastes like nasty dog slobber. Yum.” Also, I don’t know what the joke is, but the punchline is: Michael Vick!!! OHHHHH!!!! F.
jtherkal: And the mongoose flies! Yes! Why is it so hard to do ads for family cars that make them seem cool? This ad begins to break the nauseating mold that most family car ads are cast from. Get some fresh music and show families tearing it up. Show 250 berserkers screaming down a hill on big wheels. Show that it’s about more than getting from point A to point B, or keeping the kids quiet. We all know family cars are safe and we’ll ask about that in the dealership, but we’re still humans. We still want to feel like the $35,000 cars we’re buying are cool. I would have loved for this to be for a minivan.
sjbooher: That’s all well and good, too bad it’s a rip-off of this CLASSIC H2 ad. I hate copycats. Big wheels are fun though, so I can’t fail it, as much as I want to. C-.
jtherkal: I mean, what can you really expect from Taco Bell? Can you remember a good Taco Bell ad, ever? And no, that stupid little dog doesn’t count. Nothing about this seemed like a Super Bowl ad, except for the fact that it was on during the Super Bowl. In its favor, it’s undeniably a Taco Bell ad. D.
sjbooher: Sorry, I can’t sugarcoat this. Plain and simple, this is some racist bullshit. At least you know it’s Taco Bell, I guess. F.
I’m not familiar with Super Bowl time slot strategy, but it’s interesting to note that Coke aired both of it’s ads during the 4th Quarter, while Pepsi set things off early.
sjbooher: This is awesome. Coke in that glass bottle — even a balloon version — always looks so delicious. And it looks like my cartoon friends agree! I don’t even know the names of the first two characters, but I do recognize them. I do know one thing though — they want that Coke! When old head Charlie Brown triumphantly claims the prize at the end, it’s a feel good moment. This was a good implementation, as well, as the balloons look like the real thing. A.
jtherkal: Coke is all about feeling good. And if this commercial doesn’t fill your heart with joy, perhaps it’s time to invest in a new heart that has feelings. Parade ballon Stewie vs. parade balloon Underdog for the parade balloon bottle of Coka-Cola Classic until SURPRISE! Parade balloon Charlie Brown! After having the football yanked out from under him so many times, doesn’t he deserve an ice cold Coke? This was ranked by many as the top commercial of the Super Bowl, which I’m not sure I’m ready to concede, but it is good. A.
sjbooher: An ok “Odd Couple” type commercial with some sort of funny scenes, playing off the election year. It gets off to a very bad start for me, however, as Bill Frist pretty much single-handedly tried to kill online poker in America. I only have negative thoughts after seeing him. C-.
jtherkal: Oh, I get it. Democrats and Republicans can get along if they share a Coke. Problem is, I don’t really know who either of those guys are (even though they use titles to introduce them at the beginning). And if I don’t know, you can bet a large portion of the beer drinking, football loving audience is also at a loss. Just didn’t do anything for me. And that bald guy looks like some sort of evil skeleton. After that joyful balloon ad, this one falls flat. D-.
jtherkal: Every year you get at least one advertiser during the Super Bowl who thinks, “No one else is targeting women, this is my chance to have them all to myself.” I have no idea if this works or not, but I like the thinking–millions of women stuck on couches, forced to watch football, diddling with their hair wishing someone would pay attention to them. Perfect time for a shampoo ad! Unfortunately, this year’s woman ad kind of sucks. It didn’t feel “big” or “fresh” enough to compete with the other ads around it. I guess it has star power, but I don’t think you can ever clearly see their hair. And isn’t that what you want to show off with shampoo? I mean, if life was reduced to three colors and desaturated, we’d all look awesome. D+.
sjbooher: Yeah, it felt like they spent all of their money on the placement and on the stars and then just threw the rest together. And is that second picture really Shakira? The other two were recognizable, but Shakira is known for her curly hair, which does not come across at all in that portrait. I’m also never a fan of “hiding” the product until the end. C-.
My love for these commercials flies directly in the face of years of hatred toward talking baby ads. I believe it was Quizno’s that did a talking baby ad last year or the year before and I lambasted it as a cheap, horrible effort. But for some reason (well, the writing is the exact reason) I love these. They talk about the product and I’m entertained. Success.
Spit Up: B+
jtherkal: “A. Don’t worry about it, I just look young…you don’t know how old I am.” And the baby spits up. Didn’t see that coming, did you?
sjbooher: There is absolutely nothing I hate more than an investment ad. I don’t care what kind of investment-related product it is, the minute I realize what’s going on, I let out a loud groan and usually some sort of profanity. I didn’t even get the chance to do that here, because I was already groaning about YET ANOTHER TALKING BABY. SHUT. UP. F.
Clown: A
The Mouth: I know my associate doesn’t care for these, so I want to take a minute to point out some of the details that make me love this spot. Like the way the dialog/baby’s train of thought is interrupted by the sound of that balloon at the beginning. That’s something you have to plan out and think about. A subtle detail that makes a big difference, in my opinion. I think if it had just been a straight read, this would have fallen flat. But the director, or someone, knew what they were doing.
“Me and the boys were talking about what to do with all this extra coin, and I was like, I’m rentin a clown…and I did…Bobo here.” I like the writing and the actor’s read; it seems very natural and comes off funnier because of it. Plus, that baby wanted a clown–and it got a clown. That is a man of action. You have to respect that.
sjbooher: A talking baby and a clown! What will they think of next? Oh, they’ll make a joke about clowns being creepy! How original! Awesome. FAIL. F———