Another Super Bowl means another year of infamous advertisements, the good, the bad and the strange. Memorability is impor- tant when you get one of the coveted spots during this over-three hour broadcast. With CBS charging around $5 million for a spot this year, advertisers are expected to bring their A game.
The first company who stood out with their commercial was definitely Heinz Ketchup. The stampede of dachshunds in hot dog costumes was really the only ad that I needed to see and I already had my favor- ite ad of Super Bowl 50. Nothing warms a dog lover’s heart like a bunch of wiener dogs running through a field in slow motion towards a bunch of humans dressed as con- diments. I refuse to believe that the ending implies that the dogs are about to get eaten. Cute dogs in costumes are what I chose to get out of that ad.
Mountain Dew’s puppy-monkey-baby ad is one that I wish I could unsee. Words cannot describe how disturbing this combi- nation looks, not to mention how the crea- ture acted during the ad. Even though it was a very memorable ad that everyone was talking about (it was even a trending topic on Twitter), this spot actually made me not want to drink Mountain Dew ever again.
Michelob Ultra really wasted their spot with obnoxious breathing being the only sound you could hear during a 30 second ad marketed to athletes. I’m not sure why any- one would really want to drink a beer after a good workout, but maybe I’m missing out on something in life by not doing it. I still feel that another approach to this idea could have been made, with less breathing, that is.
From an advertising standpoint, Jeep’s “Portrait” ad was one of the best. Celebrating their 75th anniversary, Jeep went through 75 years of history in their one-minute spot. Ending the commercial with, “We don’t make Jeep, you do,” really pulls at your heartstrings making it a very successful ad.
Doritos definitely had some of the stranger ads this year. In one of their spots, a pregnant woman is at her ultrasound and her husband is eating Doritos. But it seems like the baby really likes Doritos so it follows the Dorito wherever the husband’s hand moves. If I remember correctly, Doritos has always had very abstract commercials, but this one was a little bit far fetched.
T-Mobile’s ad gave Steve Harvey an op- portunity to poke fun at himself for his Miss Universe mistake. What I liked about this one is the wide audience that it reachesd; so many people heard about or saw Harvey read the wrong winner for the pageant and with this ad, the joke continues and reminds everyone of his mistake (all in good fun, of course).
Hyundai Elantra had many different ads that aired during the broadcast. The first one consisted of two people run- ning through the woods from talking bears. With the car’s new talk starter, they were able to escape the bears. The other one had two girls driving around in the new 2017 Hyundai Elantra and at every turn was Ryan Reynolds. As a lover of Ryan Reynolds, I loved the cheesy concept but in reality, it was kind of ridiculous.
This is the first year that I actively paid attention to all of the advertise- ments that aired, so I don’t have much of a comparison to last year outside of the few I really watched.
Overall I thought this year’s ads were okay. None of them really had that “wow” factor. There were many ads that I liked and made me laugh, along with many that I won’t forget anytime soon.
