| The good, the bad, and the Britney |
Once again, Super Bowl ads make it tough to leave the TV
A monkey in a glittering green suit performing a musical number, Britney Spears as a beach bunny and hippie, a dinky refrigerator smashing a mean-looking robot to smithereens, a puppet riot ... even if you missed all the hype Sunday, you could tell by the commercials it was the Super Bowl.
But in among the usual glitz and goofiness, it was clear this year's Super Bowl was different for advertisers. For one thing, many big companies have decided to plunk their money down with the upcoming Olympic games, so Fox was forced to lower the cost for a 30-second spot to $2 million, down from last year's $2.2 million fee. And even at that, the network was still trying to fill empty slots in the past two weeks.
But more importantly, the wake of the Sept. 11 tragedies was apparent in a number of commercials. Monster.com presented former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in a black-and-white tribute to fallen heroes. Budweiser had its Clydesdale horse team tromp from a small town to New York City and then bow down before the skyscrapers.
Also hitting a serious note was the ad from infect-truth.com that had beachgoers watching planes fly overhead bearing warnings about the dangers of smoking. There was no question about the ad's intent.
And the second half antidrug ads were real shockers, especially the one that showed a terrorist gathering explosives and guns and preparing to strike, then asked: "Where do terrorists get their money? If you buy drugs some of it might come from you."
Which isn't to say there wasn't still plenty of silliness, stars and wanton waste of money. The Super Bowl ads have become an American cultural tradition, usually more interesting than the game itself (OK, not this year with the Patriots winning 20-17 with three seconds left), and a showcase for ad agency imagination.
Often those imaginations leave a bit too much to the viewer's imagination. A series of ads promoting mlife -- featuring a hog farmer, kids with frogs, a hot woman and two accountants -- repeatedly asked the question: What's an mlife? Well, OK -- what is one? Millions were gambled, and likely blown, on the proposition that America would seek out an answer to the question.
Far more effective were the ads that just went for the funnybone. The rioting mini-puppets, led by Danny DeVito, who mauled Al Roker on behalf of Lipton Brisk, were indeed a riot, and Kevin Bacon connecting his life to a doubting sales clerk for VISA was a perfect play off a cultural phenom. The Charles Schwab ad that had Hank Aaron trying to subliminally convince Barry Bonds to retire wisely chose to play off Aaron's immensely likable personality instead of Bonds', and ended up a hoot.
It was a big game for wacky animals: E*Trade had its monkey, Bud Light had a hawk, Yahoo offered up a talking porpoise, Blockbuster had a dancing Guinea pig and rabbit and even mlife had its frogs and hogs.
The big splash ads were Pepsi's Britney Spears number and E*Trade's hilarious monkey musical. Moving through a series of classic Pepsi ads Britney went from teen angel to girl group singer to hippie and '80s rocker, finally landing in the present day singing that idiotic "Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba" theme, but ending snappily with the classic line "Pepsi: For those who think young."
The monkey musical was easily the game's best ad, starting out with a Busby Berkeley extravaganza and then following the monkey as he finds out the ad has bombed and E*Trade decides to send him to Florida, where he is blasted into outer space on a rocket. A mini-movie better than many you'll see in theaters.
Budweiser, as always, was a major player. Cedric the Entertainer showed up in an ad giving a buddy tips on how to ask a girl out, and the Robobash commercial that had a mini-fridge lure a monstrous robot to its death with a Bud Light was a literal smash. The best of the Buds, though, might have been the sly pre-Valentine's Day ad that had a young lady searching long for just the right card, while her beau simply picks one up at the checkout counter while buying a six pack -- and she exclaims "It's perfect" when she opens it.
Of course, there were a number of movie trailers as well, some for flicks just about to hit theaters -- Denzel Washington's John Q, Arnold Schwarzenegger's Collateral Damage, Vin Diesel's XXX -- but many leading into the summer's lineup. The Scorpion King looked appropriately loud, and the best line ("There's a monster outside my room, can I have a drink of water?") was from Mel Gibson's Signs, but the wham-bam clip for Spider-Man shown pre-game blew everything else off the screen.
Cadillac did a nice cruise with its new Led Zeppelin-fueled blast that incorporates classic cars with new models; it was the sort of stylish, smooth ad that doesn't just sell cars, it sells an attitude.
The night's biggest dud had to be the ads for Quizno's Toasted Subs. In one a researcher shoots a woman in the neck with a poison dart; in another, he threatens to use a guillotine on someone. Somehow, the time seems right for humor without anybody shooting a gun or losing a body part.
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