With mild humor, an abundance of animals and cars, and an overload of the year’s popular tunes, the commercial selection for Super Bowl XLVI did not contain many that were memorable. Although there were a few high points that effectively stole the show, the majority of this year’s commercials were severely disappointing.
[media-credit id=15 align=”aligncenter” width=”741″]
[/media-credit]One of the standout commercials from this year’s selection was the Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt commercial, featuring Full House favorite John Stamos. The ad presented a couple sharing yogurt, but since the yogurt was so delicious Stamos could not resist keeping the yogurt to himself. The woman went along with it for a while, but once she realized she needed the yogurt for herself, she delivered an incredibly powerful head-butt to Stamos to successfully gain control over the coveted yogurt. Stamos attempted to recover and scramble back to the table, but the woman growled back, ensuring her control of the remainder yogurt. This commercial contained family-appropriate humor as well as a fitting celebrity appearance, making the commercial memorable and enjoyable.
A commercial that may not have successfully advertised its product to its intended audience, but certainly appealed to many women around the world, was the much-anticipated David Beckham underwear advertisement for H&M. Curiosity for the commercial was sparked prior to its release, and those who had been so expectantly waiting were far from disappointed. Featuring Beckham’s toned, barely-clothed body and intense tattoos, the advertisement did not make the product a major focus but certainly attracted a lot of eager female attention.
An interesting and enjoyable feature of a couple of this year’s Super Bowl commercials was the inclusion of 80’s hair metal bands. Kia’s advertisement featured the fun and wild Motley Crue who performed “Kickstart My Heart” to effectively promote the excitement and enjoyment experienced when owning a Kia. Then Samsung featured a surprising but incredibly humorous appearance from The Darkness. The commercial squeezed in quite a bit of marketing for their brand and new product, but once the lead singer of the band appeared, the atmosphere become one of pure enjoyment. With spontaneous dancing, singing, and random stunts—one of which even involved a cannon—The Darkness revealed the reason behind their popularity.
By far the most humorous commercial of Super Bowl XLVI was the M&Ms advertisement featuring two M&Ms at a club. A female M&M initiated the commercial by complaining about how she was not being taken seriously and was receiving inappropriate looks from men due to the chocolatey color of her shell. Just as her non-M&M friends were assuring her that her shell color did not make her appear naked, an overjoyed male M&M appeared, enthralled with the prospect of an already “naked” M&M at the party. The male M&M followed suit by shedding his shell and dancing to the catchy dance tune, “Sexy and I Know It.” The Super Bowl’s M&Ms commercial was by far the most comical and surely made an impact on an audience of all ages, serving as a successful advertisement for the M&M brand.
One of the most anticipated commercials of the Super Bowl was Honda’s advertisement featuring the lovable and comedic Matthew Broderick. Although the commercial was quite lengthy and extremely irrelevant at some points, Broderick’s humor and genuine personality saved the commercial from being a severe disappointment. With the inclusion of Broderick’s Ferris Bueller move of breaking into song and dance in the middle of the streets to the way he accidentally gets his car stolen, Honda’s advertisement was a decent commercial at best.
Some of the several low points of the Super Bowl commercials were the Go Daddy! advertisements. The company continued to rely on the belief that female bodies would create intrigue and curiosity, but the advertisement instead came off as immature and overdone. Another disappointment was the Audi vampire-related commercial; with an overload of vampires in television, movies, and basically all forms of media over the past couple years, the commercial was outdated and annoying.
Many of the other advertisements featured during the Super Bowl were not memorable enough to promote their product or serve as conversation starter, leaving viewers with an overall disappointment with Super Bowl XLVI’s commercial presentation.
Super Bowl commercials have always been a major attraction for the event, and while there were a few memorable conversation starters, this years offerings will hardly stand out.