Sunday, February 5, 2012

Super Bowl XLVI: The Commercials Live Blog


10:11pm- GAME OVER. GIANTS WIN. ELI MANNING NAMED MVP. 
But how about the MVA? That's "Most Valuable Advertisement."
Any of our first or second half winners could take the crown. Check out my Super XLVI Top Ten Commercials List here.

For me, it's a tie between Honda's "Matthew Broderick's Day Off" and Time Warner Cable's "Friend Request Denied."  Not a bad year for Super Bowl commercials!
 
Second Half Winners:

Acura- "Seinfeld #1"



Samsung- "I Believe in a Thing Called Love"



Honda- "Matthew Broderick's Day Off"



Metlife- "Everyone"



Time Warner Cable- "Friend Request Denied"




THE GIANTS WIN THE SUPER BOWL!

9:56pm: THE END- THE GIANTS WIN, 21-17 
NBC Sports Network- "Next Generation." Very sweet. 8/10
Acura- "Seinfeld #1"- Stands up on second viewing! 9.5/10
Kauffman- "Next Entrepreneur." 6/10
Dunkin Donuts- "Bakery Sandwiches." Boring. 3/10 

9:39pm: 4th Quarter, 15-17 Two Minute Warning
Cadillac- "The Green Hell." Another car commercial. Not the most boring of the night, not the most exciting. But I like the line, "Tell them to go to Green Hell." 6.5/10
Swamp People- "This Is Your Boss." I do not want this life. Nor do I want to watch it. 3.5/10
GoDaddy.com- "Internet Cloud." Another group of scantily clad ladies. Now with the absolute slightest bit more plot. 2.5/10
NBC- "Awake." WHAT THE HELL? Okay, I'm interested. 6.5/10

9:25pm: 4th Quarter, 15-17
Samsung- "I Believe in a Thing Called Love." Wow, that was a crazy, annoying song back in the day. If you're wondering, it's by "The Darkness." Put away your Shazam app, folks. Thanks Samsung, for bringing this gem back. All in all, Not a horrible ad for a phone that's major claim to fame is that it is not an iPhone. 8.5/10
NBC- "The Voice." How many seconds does it take to know he's the voice? I kinda love that guy, too. Last season the winner was the guy in all the TV commercials. This bodes well for the guy who makes it into their Super Bowl ad.  Spoiler much? 7/10

9:20pm: 4th Quarter, 15-17
Kia- "Mr. Sandman." Definitely a more interesting car commercial.  This is what you expect from a Super Bowl commercial.  It's got to have something more than the car driving in a loop. 7.5/10
Careerbuilder.com "Monkey Co-workers." Love the music from the Odd Couple. Great line: "Somebody order 46 banana daiquiris?" 8/10
NBC- "Laughs for Almost Everyone."  I do tend to love NBC's lineup, but this ad is nothing special. 4/10

9:12pm: 4th Quarter, 15-17
Hyundai- "CPR." Funny. Not hilarious, but funny. Well done. 7.5/10
Bud Light- "Here We Go." Another cute dog commercial. Great use of their tag line. This is one of those dogs that's so ugly it's cute. 7.5/10

9:06pm: 4th Quarter, 15-17
Honda- "Matthew Broderick's Day Off." Brilliant.  See my post on this one here. 10/10
Act of Valor- "Trailer." 6/10
Metlife- "Everyone." The best kind of cameos- your favorite animated friends.  He-Man, Speedy Gonzalez,  Scooby Doo, Charlie Brown & The Peanuts gang, The Jetsons, Mr. Magoo, Grape Ape, Voltron and many more make this a great little spot. 9/10
NBC- "Smash."  Stop.  Please. 2/10

9:00pm: End 3rd Quarter, 15-17
NFL- "Forever Football Evolution." Really well shot. Good use of your time, NFL. 8/10
Toyota- "Manning." Topical. Nothing special. 5/10
Time Warner Cable- "Friend Request Denied." Ricky Gervais is fantastic! Another one of my all time favorite actors. Best line of the night- "Friend request denied. What are you going to do about it? Grenade?" 10/10
Ford- "Jeter's Back for a Third Go." Seriously, I'm disappointed.  Would have expected him to actually speak by now. Especially if you're going to show it 3 times. Damn you, Ford. 3/10

8:48pm: 3rd Quarter, 12-17
Budweiser- "Prohibition is Over." Bud takes us on a tour through the ages.  They have very successfully captured the feel of these eras. Bud wants you to know that "great times are waiting" and that they are timeless. It works. 7.5/10
Bridgestone- "Tire Tech 2." Points for the sleeping baby test and cameos by Tim Duncan and Steve Nash. 7.5/10

8:44pm: 3rd Quarter, 12-17 
Acura - "Seinfeld Wants to be #1." Who wouldn't go for a good Soup Nazi cameo? Seinfeld's found a new last living munchkin. And I will hunt down his personal network of Manhattan zip lines.  I love that Leno appears as his present day Newman. 9.5/10 
GE- "Putting People to Work." GE Works. 5/10
  
8:38pm: 3rd Quarter, 12-17
Fiat- "Abarth Scorpion." The lady with the scorpion tattoo is really a car! She really fooled that guy. 7/10
Pepsi Max- "Coke Zero Guy Wins." I can't decide whether it's positive or negative points for the Regis cameo. Plus, I think they've over done this line of advertisement. I don't believe you, Pepsi. Coke is better, and that guy wouldn't cheat! 4/10
Toyota- "Camry Reinvented." That baby was a time machine! DMV is a ice cream counter! Rain makes you skinny! Thank you, Toyota. 8/10
Coca Cola- "Bears out of Coke." Sad bear. Sad me. 4/10
Oikos- "The Stamos." The most famous Greek man of 1989 sells you yogurt.  Hello Uncle Jessie, AKA John Stamos. 7/10
Century 21- "Negotiating with The Donald." 6/10

8:28pm: 3rd Quarter, 9-17 Touchdown Pats
NBC- "Smash." Stop advertising this show at me. I'm already sick of it. 3/10
BMW- "Heated Steering Wheel." Funny little spot. 7.5/10
Chase- "Broken Windows Kicker." Cute kid. What a kick! 7/10
Ford- "More Derek Jeter." Sorry, gotta give points to the home team. Win, DJ, win! But it is a rehashing of every other Jeter Ford commercial. Could we get some new footage? Maybe a joke? 6.5/10

8:17pm: Half Time, Just Before Kick Off
Chrysler- "America at Half Time." Clint Eastwood is so tough. Is he running for president? Had me convinced. 7/10
NFL- "Edge of Glory." I'm only reviewing this because of the Lady Gaga song. Great use of a fantastic song. 7/10

8:14pm Half Time, Post-Show
The Voice- "Battle." Can we watch Adam Levine beat up X-tina? Please? Ceelo is dressed in traditional Kill Bill fashion. Betty White hits this one out of the park. 8.5/10

First Half Winners: 
Geico- "Popular Girl Diet"



Pepsi- "King Elton John"



Skechers- "Mr. Quiggly"



Downy- "Mean Joe Green & Amy Sedaris"



7:59pm: Half Time, Pre-show
Camry- "Stories." Stop telling me to Shazam it! These stories aren't even that compelling. 5/10
Hulu Plus- "Will Arnet is Back." An eviler plot to take over the world. I like it. 7.5/10
Bud Lite- "LMFAO." Bridgestone half time show, Shazam, Bud Lite. Too many advertisers working together! 6/10

7:50pm: Half Time, 9-10 (I was one point away from winning a Super Bowl pool for Half Time)
NFL-"Live Like a Millionaire." Flashy. 6/10
Ford- "Derek Jeter Drives Through NY" I'm a fan, so I like it. Sorry, Boston fans.  There's just no equivalent. And we were bound to see some Yankee action in this Super Bowl. 7/10
Prudential- "Linda's Story." These have been on TV already. This isn't even the best one. 5/10
Royal Caribbean- "The Sea's Calling." Seen it on TV already. 6/10
Honda- "Visit 50 States." Did you catch your state on the girl's T-shirt? I did. 5/10 

7:42pm: 2nd Quarter, 9-3
Doritos- "I'm Up Here." Granny and baby team up against annoying older brother. Near and dear to my heart. 7/10
E-Trade- "Speed Dating." Icky ending. 5/10
G.I. Joe- "Trailer." I knew Joe would make it in there somewhere.  When did they recruit Bruce Willis? All points go to Bruce. 5/10

7:35pm: 2nd Quarter, 9-3 2 Minute Warning
Avengers- "Trailer." OMFG I wanna go see. 8/10  
Teleflora- "Valentines Day." This seems like an ad for prostitution. I don't like it. 4/10
Skechers- "Mr. Quiggly." This dog is so much better than the Volkswagen dog! His ridiculous name is the right amount of silly to make me love him. And the Moonwalk to "Wild Thing" makes it. 8.5/10
Cars.com-"Confidence." Did you see the Shazam logo? They just slipped it in there for a mili-second. Damn.  That ad was just creepy and weird. The dude's second head of confidence was bizarre and needed an explanation. But the little ditty was kinda catchy. 5.5/10

7:30pm: 2nd Quarter, 9-3
Chevy- "Sonic Stunts." Impressive. 7/10
Star Wars- "Episode I in 3D." First, I'm not Gaga over 3-D movies. Second, how many times do they have to retouch these movies? Seriously, leave a good thing alone. 6/10

7:19pm: 2nd Quarter, 9-3
H&M- "Misunderstood." That was David Bekham. And a good classic song. That's all. 6/10
Coke- "Ice Football." Wow, that's one clumsy bear. Cute, but still not loving this animation style. Also, it's the kind of implausible that turns me off. 6/10

7:13pm: 2nd Quarter, 9-3
The Lorax- "Trailer." I wanna see it! 7/10
Volkswagen- "Fat Dog Star Wars Cantina." I have lots of opinions on this. Check out the review here.  As a Super Bowl ad, let's go with 6.5/10.  
America's Got Talent- "Moves Like Jagger." Yes, I want to watch Howard Stern blast people with a fire hose. 6/10.

7:06pm: 2nd Quarter, 9-3
Budweiser- "Prohibition." I saw Clydesdale hooves and my heart jumped. I love the stylized look of this ad. It doesn't have the big emotional pull or comedy of some of the other Clydesdale Bud ads, but I appreciate it. 7.5/10
Doritos- "Missing Cat." Bribed by the dog. Wow. I'm a cat person. 6/10
Chevy- "Happy Graduation." The comedy of misunderstanding. Was the real present a mini-fridge? 6/10

7:01pm: End 1st Quarter, 9-0
Bridgestone- "Tire Technology." Troy Aikman and Deion Sanders.  Cameos are great in Super Bowl ads. 7/10
Go Daddy- "Body Paint." I can't stand these commercials. Maybe it's because I'm a woman and find them inherently degrading. Sorry boys. 2/10
Lexus- "GS." Boring. 3/10
Battleship- "Trailer." Things blow up. It's not Transformers. Really. It's not G.I. Joe.  It's a board game come to life. What? 4/10 for the pretty explosions.

6:55pm: 1st Quarter, Still 9-0
Coca Cola- "Bear Crossing." That's one sweet polar bear.  The animation looks a little sub-par for Coke. 7/10
Chevy- "Silverado Apocalypse." Dave didn't make it. Twinkies survive. Raining frogs. I like it. 7/10

6:52pm: 1st Quarter 9-0 TOUCHDOWN GIANTS! 
Bud Lite- "Platinum Round 2." Music's not as good this time. 5/10
M&Ms- "Naked Ms. M&M." Wiggle wiggle wiggle! Cute. 7/10
Best Buy- "We Created!" Stop bragging. 5/10
NBC- "Celebrity Apprentice." George Takei gets all the points for this spot. 5/10

6:41pm: 1st Quarter 2-0
Pepsi- "King Elton John." Flavor Flav is in the dungeon?! Hell yeah. And long live the king! 9/10  
Hyundai- "Veloster." Fast like a cat. Ok. 6/10
NBC- "Smash." I preemptively hate this show. 4/10 

6:38pm: 1st Quarter 0-0
Bud Lite- "Platinum." Damn, that Kanye song is haunting. 7/10
Audi- "LED Daylight Headlights." Vampires explode at the sight of headlights.  Are vampires really still so hot right now? I didn't think so. Cute ad, but not my favorite. 6/10

6:27: Post Coin Toss
Hyundai- "Rocky Music." Love it. The power of the triumph of the human spirit.  Makes me love my fellow man and made me smile.Wish they would appear next time I feel like I can't. 8/10 

6:20pm- Ok, I Give Up on Kick-Off... Sometime Before Game Time.
The Dictator- "Trailer" Eh. Didn't really show us enough to make an opinion, but I do love some Sasha Baron Cohen. 6/10
Verizon- "Droid Razor." Ooo colors. Not enough. 4/10
Old Navy- "Corporado." Surprising funny.  Impressive, Old Navy. I've learned to expect nothing from you. Or at least, nothing good. You got me there.  7.5/10
McDonalds "McDonald House." Sick kids = sadness. 5/10
Hyundai- "Genesis." A car goes around a track. Lame. 3/10
NBC- "London Olympics." I love that Coldplay song.  Go Team USA! 7/10 

6:12pm- Really Just Before Kick-Off
Hulu Plus- "Will Arnet." He's funny and he said McGrubber. 7/10
Geico- "Popular Girl Diet." HILARIOUS. 8.5/10
Gillette Fusion- "Stylish Guys." I think I know those guys. Is that the guy from Outkast? And an actor dude.  I couldn't catch them fast enough.  Negative points for not capitalizing on your celebrities. 6/10
Pizza Hut "The Rap." It was raptacular.  5/10
Safe House "Trailer"- I will not be watching this movie after viewing this trailer. 4/10.

6:05pm- Just Before Kick-Off
Honking Hyundai Elantra- "One Car Parade." Sweet little commercial. Not a stand out. 5/10
GE Wisconin- "Cancer Survivors." Emotional? Not sure what I just watched or why. 4/10
Kraft Mac & Cheese- "Picky Eater." Seen it. Don't love the kid. 4/10
NFL- "Wind Beneath my Wings." Allen screaming "NAILED IT!" at the end makes this commercial.  Very sweet thank you for the fans.  I'm all for anything that embarrasses professional football players. 7/10.   

5:40pm- Mean Joe Green and Amy Sedaris for Downy
Wow, I wasn't planning to start until kick-off, but how could I resist posting this play on a classic Super Bowl commercial. Check out one of my favorite comedic ladies, Amy Sedaris, playing the kid in an homage to a classic Coke commerical.



Super Bowl Score: 8.5/10
Why it's good: It's a cute and funny play on a classic commercial.  Mean Joe looks just as puzzled by someone trying to pass him some laundry detergent as the rest of us.  It works because it's Amy Sedaris, and she's a notably strange lady. She's also adorable and one of my all-time favorites.  Yes, I was a fan of "Strangers With Candy." And I'm old enough to appreciate the reference. In short, I like it. Check out the original here:



5:30pm- The Rules
Since this is the Oscars, nay, the Olympics of the television commercial world, the traditional WFOS Ratings system goes right out the window.  That's mainly because these spots are custom designed for maximum impact right here, right now--and they're not necessarily made to stand up on repeated viewings.  That means the score for longevity won't accurately capture whether the ad is a good Super Bowl ad. So, for tonight only, I'll be utilizing a special 1-10 system designed to address the only question that matters: Is it a good Super Bowl ad? Each commercial will get a score out of 10, followed by my attempt to answer for you, "Why?" or "Why not?"

5:15pm- Pregame 
Don't touch that dial, TVland. You're tuned in to The Big Game with a little color commentary from your host at "And Now a Word From Our Sponsors." Stay here for the only chatter that matters: what is the deal with these multimillion dollar Super Bowl commercials? Together, we'll take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly. In the end, only one will can prevail in the championship game. By the time they crown the winner's MVP, I'll be announcing the Super Bowl Spot MVA- Most Valuable Advertisement. So stay tuned!


5 comments:

  1. Corporado? That gets a +1 for being from Old Navy. I was expecting somebody like JoS A. Bank or something making fun of casual wear. No no. It's for VERY casual wear.

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  2. that M&M's commercial is the best so far. 10/10!!!!

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  3. I liked the Chevy commercial until the frogs came down. I do love the direct jab at Ford, though I respect Ford more as a car company in general.

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  4. that prohibition commercial would have been better if at the end, they handed the first Bud Light to a little kid. I was actually kind of expecting that.

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  5. Noooooo, the Doritos dog was the best. Star Wars VW was dumb. Moves like Jagger song wasn't awful.

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