I RATE ADS

sjbooher: This one aired at halftime, and do to the fact it was not transmitted in widescreen, but in box form, like the rest of the local ads, I didn’t even think it was national run. On top of that, it’s a train wreck. They got arguably the least known member of this year’s gold medal winning USA basketball team, they use a bling-bling joke that might have been funny 10 years ago, and they try to force some sort of weird bargain prices and dedication combo on us. Disaster. F.

jtherkal: Boozer came at a discount, I guess. 40% off Team USA players with unibrows. And 40% off their grade. F.

sjbooher: Been there. Done that. C-.

jtherkal: I love football. I want to be excited for next season and for watching highlights or whatever. This does nothing for me. D.

sjbooher: Meh. Clever way to sell the “now” aspect of Nextel chirping? I guess. C+

jtherkal: Don’t get into the Super Bowl and run a commercial you’ve been running for months. Normally, I’d grade this higher. F.

sjbooher: Ok, everybody, I’m pretty sure I’m throwing this in Ad Exec Masturbation. Ad Exec 1: “Hey, we’ll get big football players to do ballet!” Ad Exec 2: “Yeah, and we’ll have them dance with our colorful lizards, and the lizards will act cool like you’d expect the football players to be!” Ad Exec 3: “Yeah, and it’ll be colorful! And 3-D! And no one will know! Let’s spend millions! Awesome!”. Nope. Terrible. F.

jtherkal: Ugh. Ray Lewis, really? You need to ask for a bigger contract or something, because this is downright embarassing. I’ve never been a fan of these stupid dancing lizards, and this spot made me want to rub hot wing sauce in my eyes and punch my TV–and I love my TV. F-.

However, I think the 3-D thing needs to be rated on its own. While I agree that not many people knew about it, if you did, it was the probably the biggest phenomenon at your Super Bowl party. At my house, someone brought enough 3-D glasses for everyone, so people were wearing them around all night. And then when the commercials finally came on it was a moment of great excitement. Until the Sobe commercial. Then it was a moment of great disappointment.

Still, they did a bad job letting people know they needed glasses. B.

sjbooher: It’s a well-known fact that I love mascots, and Chester the Cheetah is an awesome one. This produced a legit lol situation. Look how cool he is… who doesn’t want to be the Cheetos Cheetah? A.

jtherkal: For some reason I want to not like this, but I do. To the surprise of many, I’m a fan of pigeons. And when he has that hawk-hood on one at the end and says “Give daddy a kiss,” I became a fan. But through the Super Bowl “gotta stand out filter” this loses some points. B+.

jtherkal: The only things certain in life are death and taxes. The premise of this seems like it should be funny, but for some reason the ad doesn’t pay off. And the focus of this is on someone else, not on H&R Block. I also don’t like Death’s voice in this. Average. C.

sjbooher: I like everything about it, including when Death tells the guy he’ll seem in 8 days, and the dumb parking validation joke. Good work. A.

sjbooher: I’ve never had the problem of ordering flowers and them being delivered in a box. Does that even happen? Also, the girl is not even unattractive. If you are going to be cruel and mean, be cruel and mean. They could have gone so many different and better ways with the “what the box says” concept, that I am disappointed in the result. D+.

jtherkal: Maybe we don’t send our girls enough flowers. I don’t know anything about flowers in boxes. But if your best claim is that you don’t put your flowers in a box, maybe you need to take another look at your business. The flowers are sort of funny, and I remembered this spot after the Super Bowl. B-.

sjbooher: So, yes, I may be an idiot. I was informed of an alternative interpretation of this ad. It could be the most beautiful woman in the world, but the fact that the flowers are in a box tells the women she’s not hot… even if she is. I get it now. Slight upgrade. C-

sjbooher: I sort of like the drawing whatever you want concept, but don’t like the actual execution of it, here. Drinkability, itself, as my cohort said, is sort of dumb. Blah. D+.

jtherkal: I hate the drawing concept. Seems like something that sounded good on paper and turned out to be awful and boring in execution. And “Drinkability” is the worst, though it seems to be catching on as a joke. I’ve heard people talking about it. This particular ad is terrible, but I can’t deny enjoying watching the skier crash through all the tables. D+.

jtherkal: eTrade is holding on to the talking baby ads. And why not, they’re simple, funny, recognizable. And you can have that baby talk about anything. Do I remember what service they’re selling? Nope. But I remember the brand, and I remember “take these broken wings…” A-.

sjbooher: Yep, I give up. Count me in. My mom loves these too, if that counts. A.

jtherkal: It’s Hyundai, like Sunday. A fun way to announce you’ve won 2009 North American Car of the Year, and take a jab at your competitors. Nice work. B+.

sjbooher: Did anyone pronounce their name wrong? I think I’ve only ever heard people say it correctly, like smorrectly. Whatever. C-.