jtherkal: I like the message. I like the image Toyota is going for. But it’s boring. And jammed into the Superbowl, boring ain’t gonna cut it. Yawn. D.
sjbooher: Definitely agree on boring. At least I know what a Venza is now, though. It worked in that way, where few ads do. C-.
sjbooher: Who knew I would like this? I don’t really like Conan, but this is pretty funny. Of course, the Conan parts do not make me laugh, but the pedestrian at the end doing the robot and imitating Conan, that makes me laugh. But I still don’t know what this ad is for. Is it for Conan? C for Conan.
jtherkal: Oh, wait, you mean everyone saw that ad? Even though they said it would only be in Sweden? Conan should have kept not doing ads. F.
sjbooher: So stupid and terrible. A crotch joke? Fail. F.
jtherkal: So wait, is this another user-created Doritos ad? Are they still doing that, where they have a contest and the best ad runs during the Super Bowl? They had a decent laugh up until the button at the end. Why, why why do you need a crotch joke in there? I agree with fail, but I like the crystal ball through the candy machine…D+.
sjbooher: And the world is apparently abuzz over this one… guess that means something. I upgrade to D+.
sjbooher: This is “jammin’ on the one” as Theo Huxtable said back in the day. Love. And this is officially an Ad That Works, as I bought a 12-pack of Pepsi on Monday. Show the product in some more prominent way, and you get your A+. A.
jtherkal: That’s more like it, Pepsi. The only thing this could have used was a little refreshing sexy pour of the Pepsi onto some ice cubes in a glass. That’s what makes me thirsty. My complaint about the last refresh everything commercial was that they didn’t refresh the song, which they did here. That’s good enough for me. A-.
jtherkal: Hmmmm…they did everything right here. Some action, some comedy, a celebrity. So why am I not impressed. I guess this doesn’t seem like Audi’s personality. At least the first 30-seconds, which take jabs at other luxury car makers (Lexus is for old people!), seems a bit low-brow for Audi. And I spend the first half of the ad thinking about BMW and Mercedes. B-.
sjbooher: Lexus for old people? What? Somebody missed the entire 90s when a Lexus was one of the hottest and most desirable cars on the streets. Anyway, as entertainment, this is good. As an Audi ad, horrible, especially during the Super Bowl when people are at parties and you’re lucky if they watch 5 seconds of your joint, much less a full minute or whatever before you show your product. F.
jtherkal: Violence is never the answer. I guess the challenge with beer commercials is that you can pretty much do anything, so unless you really hit it out of the park it feels sort of average. I like “does my pen have writability?” But overall I think drinkability is about the dumbest claim since Coors Light started selling on a platform of “cold.” C-.
sjbooher: Wow. To start off the festivities we are treated to an ad which is a completely an unoriginal idea, as it spoofs another commercial. I think the new saying is “epic fail”. F.