The Best and Worst Super Bowl Ads

I thought it was a weak crop of ads; the only ones that moved my jaded young heart were the:
Post-post-modern absurdity bits (the phenomenal Hulu & Conan O' Brien ads, the meh for women, spot on for men Flowers ad (after "No one wants to see you naked!" came up, three different guys in my room (myself included, I am ashamed to admit) popped in with "I do!" before the ad did).
A couple of bombs whose brief moments of absurdity raised then to competent - koala punching, the Clydesdale generations ad ("It's a story of hope, determination... and oats").
The absurdly meta Pepsuber ad, a parody ad based on a parody of a show from 20 years ago, featuring the guy from the show. Although I do wonder about this and Pepsi's other spot - was their advertiser's goal to say that all we have nowadays is bad knockoffs of real entertainment from decades ago? Then again, Pepsi would be nostalgic for the 80s, when they were actually competing in market share...

I liked Hulu's the best, though the early Doritos crystal ball spot and the repetitive CareerBuilder spot probably got the most laughs out of my small group of 3. I've always thought the Clydesdale commercials were overdone. Were there really only 3 of them? Maybe it's because 2 were so close to each other, or there were so many Bud commercials they started blending in with each other, but it felt like there were a lot of Clydesdale commercials. *shrug*

I laughed at the Doritos crystal ball spot and the cheetos ad, although pigeons could never convince me to eat anything.

The second Doritos ad with the magical chip was upsetting, especially in conjunction with the first Danica Patrick GoDaddy ad. Both of these were commercials that play rape and assault for laughs, and it's just not funny.

And Mr. Potatohead? Jeez, we get it women won't shut up. HiLARious.

Loved...LOVED the Hulu ad! Who knew that Hulu was an evil alien plot to ripen our brains to make it easier to remove them with melon ballers to be served as dessert? Who cares? The ad still made me want to immediately check out the site to rewatch the ads and a few old episodes of "Arrested Development." Extremely effective ad.

A couple of other thoughts on SB ads:
1. What was Danica Patrick thinking when she signed on with GoDaddy.com? The first ad was cringe-inducing in a way that made farting horses look like high-brow comedy. As for the second ad the only thing I could think was how "non-enhanced" DP was compared to the models in the commercial (sorry but its true). If it wasn't for Michael Phelps hittin the chronic I'd say that Patrick had the worst PR week for a "major" sports celeb after last night.
2. I'm not a "Heroes" fan and last night's sing-along ads for NBC's Monday night didn't make me change my mind. I keep trying to picture ABC doing something similar with "Lost" and am thankful they haven't. Say what you will about confusing plot points and unanswered questions at least ABC keeps its promotions for the show "classy."
3. Did anyone unfamiliar with the MacGruber skit on SNL find the Pepsuber ad funny? I always get a chuckle out of Forte's skit and the same was true about the ad. My wife had no idea who MacGruber was and thought the ad was pointless and stupid.
4. I know it's low-brow humor but watching talking koalas get sucker-punched is never not funny.

I didn't even know MacGruber was an SNL sketch, but I thought the ad was hilarious, though moreso because of Richard Dean Anderson being there than the actual content of the ad. It would have been a better ad if MacGruber/PepSuber somehow spilled his Pepsi onto the bomb and defused it. After the ad, my group laughed, and then I said, "So if I drink Pepsi... I'll blow myself up?" Then I drank some Pepsi. And exploded.

Embarrassed to admit it, but I actually watched SNL this past Saturday. They either ran three MacGruber/Pepsuber sketches during the show (the first of which was exactly the commercial that ran during the Super Bowl), or else a series of Pepsi adds ran right after the act breaks during the show. I'll admit that I like Forte's bits on SNL, but this is a pretty weird concept. It reminds me of the Paul Harvey situation, where it's impossible to tell when entertainment blurs into advertising. Its especially disorienting on SNL, where the viewer is used to seeing mock advertisements which appear just after fake act breaks.

Hm, I was not that impressed with Hulu add. Perhaps because instead of my savvy peers, I attended a Super Bowl party at my boyfriend's parents and their assorted friends/siblings. Heck, Grandma was there cheering for the Steelers. "What's Hulu?" was the collective question as the commercial began, everyone quieted down as rapid fire images of 30 Rock, The Office and The Simpsons flashed by. Then it was revealed that Alec Baldwin was an alien. "What the hell just happened?" Asked Uncle Gary. "Was that a Baldwin?" Offered Mom.

The MacGruber add struck an inter-generational chord, not that this bunch had watched any SNL since Chevy Chase was a regular, but because they actually remembered MacGuyver. The surrealist humor and purposely awkward dialogue was enough for those of us under 25.

Finally, GoDaddy.com's woefully crude, hyper-sexed commercials make me want to exclaim "Won't someone think of the children?" more than Janet Jackson's unintentional nipple slip did.

You forget how sexual so many of the ads are until you watch them with your conservative Nigerian parents and your ten year old brother. And they weren't even there when I was watching the game, I just imagined them lamenting America's hypersexualization.