Obviously this will be the Super Bowl known for its power outage. The same could be said about the inspiration behind a lot of the ads.
The Bright Lights
I'll admit it: I'm a sucker for animals. The Doritos ad with the goat was funny because 1. goats will eat anything and 2. too much of a good thing can be baaaaad. Also, the ad with the visual of the baby Panda astronaut was unexpected, yet well played, especially when we thought it might be a condom ad instead of a car ad.
Surprisingly, I really liked the GoDaddy dot co ad. No, not the one with the supermodel kissing the geek (can this old trope be retired, please?), but the one where the guys around the world all have the same idea at the same time. Granted, it still manages to be sexist (only guys come up with ideas, apparently), however the point about being a first mover was actually a real benefit of the GoDaddy product (for once).
Sam Sung. More Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd and Saul Goodman, please.
The Dim Bulbs
I'm sorry, but sentimentality has no place in the Super Bowl. Especially when you borrow it from someone else.
Jeep teams up with the Oprah to talk about soldiers. That might work if your partnership wasn't with the USO. Maybe if Don Rickles and a few showgirls got out of a Jeep at the end it would make sense? As it stands, it felt really forced and disingenuous.
Which brings us to vehicle two. Ram gives an extended ode to the farmer. This wasn't a bad spot, per se, but it didn't feel authentic either. How has Ram helped the farmer, exactly? Every time I've been in farm country visiting my relatives, I see Ford F150s and beat up Chevys. Maybe this one should have had Don Rickles instead? It'd feel less insulting.
The Off Switch
A fish sings an old R&B song to a sapphire beer with a red gemstone? How much alcohol is in that thing?
Speaking of which, Budweiser Black? The first ad made it look like a beer for goths. Aren't you supposed to drown your sorrows in beer instead of celebrate them? Color me confused.
And speaking of confusing, some ads tried to cram too much story into too short an amount of time. The Flaming Lips ad for one. The lifeguard astronaut for another--you're sending people into space; you don't need another message than that one.
