Superbowl-ads.com Article Archive

http://tinyurl.com/ygpf9ec

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BY Seana Mulcahy

Last year I got a lot of flack for writing a column titled “The Boring Bowl?” Unfortunately, I must again rate the big game a big snooze.

The reason I tuned in to Super Bowl XXXVII is as an advertising geek (and a Patriots fan), I felt I had to watch the advertising at least, since I couldn’t care less about either team. After all, the ads cost an average of $2.1 million for 30 seconds, or $70,000 per second, and companies bought them.

On a positive note for us ad folk, some stats look quite positive. Knowledge Networks (KN) Research reported:

Attitudes Toward Super Bowl Advertisers

Statements 2002 (%) 2003 (%)

People care which companies sponsor the Super Bowl. 87 86

Super Bowl sponsors have a commitment to quality and excellence. 74 70

Super Bowl sponsors are industry leaders. 83 85

People pay more attention to commercials during the Super Bowl than to those shown during other special events. 89 90

Base 510 436

Note: Percentages reflect respondents ages 18 to 49 years old who “strongly” or “somewhat” agreed with the statements.

Source: Knowledge Networks/SRI

Whether you enjoyed the game, I’m sure you picked a favorite ad. I think Reebok did a fantastic job with its Terry Tate campaign. There were teasers days in advance of the game. The day of the game, the 60-second “Terry Tate, Office Linebacker” debuted. If you haven’t seen it, check it out.

USA Today published results of its annual Ad Meter Panel of 108 adults, who picked the best Super Bowl ads. The resulting top 10 ads are:

1. Anheuser-Busch — Football-playing Clydesdales turn to zebra referee to review call on replay.

2. Anheuser-Busch — Guy sidesteps “no pets” rule at bar by using his dog as a hairdo.

3. Pepsi/Sierra Mist — Zoo baboon catapults to cool off in a nearby polar bear pool.

4. Anheuser-Busch — Strongman contest to lift fridge of Bud Light hijacked by fans.

5. Anheuser-Busch — Buddy warns guy his fiancŽe will look like her mother in 20 years.

6. Reebok — Terry Tate, “Office Linebacker,” enforces office rules with gusto.

7. Pepsi/Sierra Mist — Dog cools its master with fire hydrant blast.

8. Anheuser-Busch — Beer drinker in clown suit grosses out bar patrons.

9. Pfizer/Trident — Fifth dentist from Trident’s “four out of five dentists” claim is bitten by a squirrel.

10. Anheuser-Busch — Beachgoer’s pickup line with conch shell bites him back.

So, what about traffic, you ask? It’s tough to get a proper read on traffic because of the worm virus that was spread Friday and Saturday before the game.

According to an independent report from enterprise Web analytics provider Omniture, the worm’s most significant effect was a 9 percent decrease in traffic over a one-hour period Saturday. Sunday, traffic dipped by about 21 percent in each half of the game.

To top it all off, some advertisers didn’t have back ends in place to support their advertising efforts, resulting in forced time outs for many angry users. Surprisingly, Cadillac and Philip Morris had the most problems, as reported by users. Sony, FedEx, Levi’s, and McDonald’s were seamless, according to Keynote, a Web performance testing company.

SuperBowl.com, the official Super Bowl Web site, attracted 359,000 unique visitors on the day of the game, according to audience measurement service Nielsen//Net Ratings. Most viewers logged on just before or just after the game. Viewers were not just the typical male sports fans. The site drew women, older people, and more educated people.

Let’s face it; even if the game’s a snoozer, it’s always a major TV event. The Web gets a lot of play. Almost every ad was tagged with a URL. That’s worth some attention.

http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/tv_radio/article/0,1651,TCP_1083_1704515,00.html

By Bob Betcher media columnist 

It wasn’t a night for Metamucil ads.

The commercials on Sunday’s ABC telecast of the Super Bowl took aim at young – mostly football-loving – men with a mixture of spots for beer, soda pop, sports cars, and action-themed movies.

Each slickly-produced 30-second commercial set advertisers back upwards of $2.2 million. It was a bargain, many said, since they reached about 130 million viewers.

My favorites:

* Pepsi Twist – In a dream, the children of TV bad-boy Ozzy Osbourne turn into the wholesome duo of Donny and Marie Osmond. Ozzy’s wife turns up as Carol Brady of the “The Brady Bunch.” The Osbournes and the Osmonds – truly strange bedfellows.

* Cadillac – A subway passenger witnesses the style change of Caddies from the 1950s to the present. An effective execution in shedding the old-fogies image of Cadillac and to lure younger buyers (not that there’s anything wrong with old fogies).

* Pepsi’s Sierra Mist – A dog cools off his master with a blast of water from a fire hydrant. (I could be biased here. Publix was handing out free Sierra Mist samples Saturday and I found the lemon-lime drink smoother than Coke’s Sprite.)

* Bud Lite – A beer-drinking dude winds up with three arms, and uses his extra extremity to lure women. Offbeat, funny.

* FedEx – In a spoof of “The Castaway” starring Tom Hanks as a FedEx executive stranded for five years on an island,

* FedEx guy discovers that a box he was committed to deliver – unopened – could have brought rescue since it contained a satellite phone, a Global Positioning System and a water purifier. Dark, but funny.

* Quizno’s Subs – The cook is so involved with making his grilled subs, he shows up minus his pants. A silly spot, but it holds your interest and the food made me salivate.

Anheuser-Busch, makers of Bud Lite, took top honors in the commercial count category, airing 11, 30-second commercials throughout the game.

By my count, usual big-spender McDonalds – now facing a flurry of store closings – aired only one spot.

My vote for the two worst commercials:

* Subway – Annoying sub-boy Jered is in a slumber, dreaming of opening his own Subway eatery in his house. Subway needs to retire this guy post haste or at least buy the dude a full-fledged steak dinner at Outback.

* Philip Morris – The “talk, they’ll listen” spot, designed to stop teen smoking, is the most vivid example of what’s wrong with the double-talking tobacco company.

Readers who participated in a TCPalm.com Web site poll had their own thoughts:

Judi Bewersdorf said: “The best, well-done commercial was by Cadillac where the man gets on the subway train, sits down, looks out the window and sees the different kinds of Cadillacs pasted on the wall.”

Sheila Hamilton wrote: “The commercials fell way under the bar for Super Bowl. Those sad commercials ranged from lame (Cadillac chasing bulls and three-armed guy) to gross-vulgar (clown suit guy), the Osbournes (not funny), to slightly humorous (Sierra Mist dog).”

And from Benoit Lemay of Port St. Lucie: “Great win for the Bucs, but a mediocre year for commercials. Too many promos for ABC future programs. Unable to sell all the airtime?”

Indeed, ABC clogged up its airwaves with promos for a couple of new series, “Dragnet” and “Veritas,” as well as its new late-night talk show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

And did we really need to see Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson of the ABC News division tossing a football in promos for “Good Morning America”?

Local ABC affiliate WPBF Channel 25 repeatedly promoted its late Sunday news, airing unpleasant images of dog fighting and promos for next Sunday about jam-ups on Interstate 95 in Palm Beach County.

Besides the commercials, ABC managed to spoil the half-time entertainment show by superimposing an “AT&T Wireless” logo on the screen for the duration of the acts. It was enough to make me flee to Sprint.

What’s next for ABC’s anything-for-a-buck ad hawkers? Selling the Sunsweet Prune Juice log during “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings”?

Nah, make it Metamucil.

Super Bowl ratings rate

Super Bowl XXXVII on ABC pulled a 43.8 rating and a 62 share from 6:30 to 10:15 p.m. – three percent above last year’s Patriots/Rams match-up on Fox.

WPBF Channel 25, which delivers ABC programs to the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach County, scored similar numbers, peaking with a 50.7 rating and a 63 share at 9:55 p.m., the station said Monday.

The gridiron contest tossed regular Sunday night viewing patterns out the window.

Normally, top-rated CBS’ “60 Minutes” on WPEC Channel 12 placed a very distant second place with 7.19 rating and a 9.88 share between 7 and 8 p.m. “60 Minutes” didn’t even try to compete with ABC, opting for a repeat episode with female-skewing celebrity profiles of Barbra Streisand, Candice Bergen, Tina Turner and Shirley MacLaine.

A couple of prime-time WB shows on WTVX Channel 34, including “High School Reunion,” scored so low opposite the Super Bowl they earned only “hash marks” in the ratings – meaning audience levels were too low to measure.

National figures are from Electronic Media; local numbers are from Nielsen Media Research.

A rating is the percentage of TV households; a share is the percentage of TV sets in use.

Factoring in a 25.7/38 for the post game at 10:30 p.m., ABC nationally beat CBS, NBC, Fox and the WB combined by 169 percent.

- bob.betcher@scripps.com

MORE BETCHER COLUMNS »

http://www.newsday.com/business/printedition/ny-bzadv283106449jan28,0,7982809.story?coll=ny-business-print

By Monty Phan

Unlike the game itself, there was no clear-cut winner among Madison Avenue’s offerings that aired during Sunday’s Super Bowl, if the polls are any indication.

In fact, advertisers’ efforts seemed to be so ho-hum that even the students in Andrew Bergstein’s marketing classes at Penn State University were unwilling to discuss them.

“It was like pulling teeth to get students to talk about their favorite Super Bowl ads, which was radically different from previous years,” said Bergstein, an instructor at the university’s Smeal College of Business.

Overall, Bergstein said he didn’t think this year’s crop was as inventive as even last year’s, when advertisers faced economic turmoil and the dilemma of how to address the post-Sept. 11 audience. Still, his classes did have a few favorites, among them:

A Visa spot starring the Houston Rockets’ 7-foot-5 center Yao Ming, who, when asks if he can write a check, is repeatedly rebuffed by a cashier who points to a sign saying, “Absolutely no checks.” Each time she points, she says, “Yo,” to which the basketball star replies, “Yao.”

A Sierra Mist commercial where two sweltering monkeys at a zoo use a see-saw to catapult one of them over a wall and into a polar bear’s pool, while the theme from “2001″ plays in the background.

Some of the polls had other favorites. Nearly 300,000 America Online members who voted on the ads had Pepsi Twist’s commercial, starring Ozzy Osbourne, as the top spot. In it, the rocker sees his kids, Jack and Kelly, transformed into Donny and Marie Osmond, and when he wakes up from the “nightmare” and calls for wife Sharon, it’s instead Florence Henderson.

USA Today’s annual “Ad Meter” survey had Anheuser-Busch’s football-playing Clydesdales as the favorite. The ad depicted two teams of horses waiting while a refereeing zebra reviews the previous play, his head tucked under the hood of a TV camera.

Other spots that got high marks: a FedEx spoof of the movie “Castaway” that showed a man delivering a battered package after years of being stranded on a deserted island, only to find out it contained a satellite phone, water purifier and other survival tools.

Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/864850.asp

Super Sell Sunday Super Bowl ads are overhyped, overgrown and even terrifying, but we love to see them play

By Tom Shales THE WASHINGTON POST

Super Bowl? Super Mall. Commercials have become so prominent a part of the annual January rite that a commercial for America Online during this year’s game advised viewers that they could run to the Internet after play ended and “replay all your favorite Super Bowl commercials.”

In terms of production, the commercials generally were not lavish and most didn’t look outrageously costly.

FOOTBALL TOOK BACK some yardage from Madison Avenue with last night’s game from San Diego, however. It may have started slow but it was hardly a bust, and it included a spirited comeback attempt in the fourth quarter by the Oakland Raiders – who nevertheless lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 48-21.

Sponsors paid an average of $2.1 million for a 30-second spot on the ABC telecast, according to Wayne Friedman in Electronic Media, up 10 percent over last year’s prices despite the sluggish economy. In terms of production, though, the commercials generally were not lavish and most didn’t look outrageously costly.

Among the guaranteed crowd-pleasers was a spot for Pepsi Twist featuring those MTV-reality stars Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. Ozzy has a nightmare in which the children turn out to be Donny and Marie Osmond (good-naturedly spoofing themselves) in disguise.

The only thing better than getting Michael Jordan for your commercial, meanwhile, is getting three Michael Jordans, a neat computer trick pulled off by Gatorade. Jordan appeared as he is today, as he was in younger days and, for a kicker, as he was in still earlier days – a great basketball player no matter when, of course.

Jordan also appeared in an entertaining spot with Jackie Chan for Hanes underwear later in the game. Chan did all the work, however.

Another much-ballyhooed ad came off well: Willie Nelson’s spot for H&R Block, sort of a “reality commercial,” since Nelson played himself under assault by the IRS for back taxes, which actually happened. To make money, Nelson agrees to do the unthinkable – a commercial for shaving cream. The moral of the pitch: “Don’t get bad advice.”

Reebok introduced a promising if ultra-violent new character, “Terry Tate, office linebacker,” in a new commercial for its sports gear. Tate was employed to make an office a tight ship, literally mowing down employees who wasted time, or tackling them to the floor. He also screamed and yelled at them to get them to work harder.

Sony dared to build an arresting spot around an elderly man, a pleasant change from all the buff bods of young hotties and hunks.

MOVIES AND BEER

The most advertised products were movies and beer. ABC essentially let the Super Bowl become one big Super Spiel to promote the forthcoming Arnold Schwarzenegger film “Terminator 3.” The star, looking a bit old for such high jinks, appeared in an “Are you ready for some football” taped opening, comparing football players to terminators. Both are “programmed to search and destroy,” he said. Arnold also uttered old Termy cliches like “Hasta la vista, baby.” It was kind of sad.

Then came graphics heralding “Super Bowl XXXVII – Rise of the Machines.” Huh? Had real live players been replaced by androids or robots? Much later, during an actual commercial for “Terminator 3,” the phrase “The Machines Will Rise” appeared. So that explained that. It seemed pretty chintzy of ABC to let the first commercial appear to be part of the program.

Schwarzenegger ended his introduction, incidentally, by removing sunglasses to reveal one gruesome gouged-out metallic eye, not just the thing parents may have wanted their kids to see as they all sat watching the first half.

Budweiser appeared to own the beer franchise, though ads for Coors and Michelob were sneaked in during the second half. Bud’s ads included distasteful spots, one involving a man with three arms, another about bargoers watching in disgust as a man in a clown suit appeared to pour the brew into his, um, rectal orifice. This was implied, not shown, but very graphically implied.

Some commercials, inevitably, were eye-poppers. In one ad a huge herd of buffalo roared through the empty streets of a big city. A young man and woman strolled down the middle of another street. Eventually they stood in the path of the charging buffalo, which roared past them. What a rush, huh? The kids were still standing at the end – in their new Levi’s jeans. Does that mean Levi’s protect you from buffalo stampedes? Perhaps they do; it’s not as if you’d get many chances to prove they don’t.

Sony dared to build an arresting spot around an elderly man, a pleasant change from all the buff bods of young hotties and hunks. The old man goes to Moscow. Why? To take a ride on the Russian space shuttle. He videotapes Earth from outer space for his grandchildren.

KISS KISS, BANG BANG

Dodge Trucks probably took the gross-out honors with a commercial about a man choking to death on a piece of beef jerky.

ABC’s promos relied heavily on sex and violence, especially desperately pandering spots for the action series “Alias,” which would air after the game. The spots boiled down to the “kiss kiss, bang bang” phrase that critic Pauline Kael once saw advertising a James Bond film in a foreign country. ABC showed the heroine in a bikini, sometimes a wet bikini, and guns being fired. These images took turns filling the screen.

Promos for ABC’s revival of the “Dragnet” series were slathered with blood and filled with violent imagery.

Many of the movie ads were violent, too, including those for the Bruce Willis film “Tears of the Sun”; the crash-bang comedy “Anger Management,” with Adam Sandler billed above Jack Nicholson, incredibly enough; Universal’s new version of “The Incredible Hulk,” not due in theaters until June 20 (write that down now); yet another action film, “Daredevil”; and two separate sequels to “The Matrix.”

Federal Express offered a good-natured, nonviolent movie parody: a scruffily bearded castaway (à la the Tom Hanks film) arrives at a woman’s door with the FedEx package he was attempting to deliver when marooned on an island. Ironically enough it contained seeds, tools and other items he could have used for sustenance.

Dodge Trucks probably took the gross-out honors with a commercial about a man choking to death on a piece of beef jerky. His friend driving the truck slams on the brakes and a bit of digested food flies out and splats on the windshield. Sierra Mist lemon-lime drink had the most unimpressive overproduced spots, one aping the monkey sequence from “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

NBC entreated viewers to skip the stadium halftime show and tune over for a half-hour “Saturday Night Live” special starring “Weekend Update” anchors Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon. There were plenty of laughs jammed into the show, which included Horatio Sanz hilariously imitating Gene Shalit and Chris Kattan as that ugly little hairless creature in the new “Lord of the Rings” movie.

Director James Signorelli contributed a deft parody of the kind of super-annoying NFL promotional ad that ran during the Super Bowl. Fey was terrific and Fallon could handle his own talk show starting tonight if it were offered him.

But then it was back to the second half of the game on ABC and more commercials. Just before the game had started, Celine Dion, seemingly in pain of some kind, sang “God Bless America” and the Dixie Chicks nimbly performed the national anthem. Far above, Navy jets did a majestic fly-by over the stadium – but ABC’s director caught only a part of it. He did, however, give viewers a fine, unobstructed view of the “Qualcomm Stadium” sign. Super Sell XXXVII was underway.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_1701634,00.html

‘Super’ ads fail to bowl critics over

Budweiser’s zebra hits spot, but many commercials a bit flat

By Rachel Brand, Rocky Mountain News

Action. Beer. Celebrities.

Advertisers sang their ABC’s at this year’s Super Bowl, dishing up pitches that were textbook and familiar.

“What if you gave a Super Bowl and no advertiser came?” asked Steve Koluskus, creative director at Extra Strength Creative Group.

“I see no new campaigns, no new ideas,” said David Schiedt, creative director for Italia Denver.

The Super Bowl is the Oscar night for the advertising industry, and the stakes are huge. For agencies, it can make or break reputations. For advertisers, it’s a multimillion-dollar gamble. For viewers, it’s one barometer of the American mood.

Koluskus and Schiedt gathered a dozen agency executives Sunday night to munch chips and critique the ads.

They pronounced two winners: the zebra spot by No. 1 brewer Anheuser-Busch and Reebok’s introduction of Terry Tate, a linebacker who pounds on office drones.

The Budweiser spot opens with a screen full of instant replay footage. Then it cuts to a snowy field and the company’s signature Clydesdale horses eyeing each other in puzzlement. A zebra stands in their midst, viewing the game on television.

Two cowboys size up the animal. “This referee’s a jackass,” says one. “Nope, I believe that’s a zebra,” replies his friend with a Western drawl.

The ad was applauded as a good extension of the Clydesdale theme.

“They’re keeping it fresh by doing something different,” Koluskus said.

“I just love the way the horses look at each other,” said Carol Williams, television producer.

In the Reebok spots, an actor playing the character “Terry Tate, office linebacker,” roams an office wearing Reebok shoes and a football jersey tackling annoying co-workers.

He attacks one for playing computer solitaire, another for faulty recycling.

“Slapstick – if you do it right – always gets me,” Schiedt said.

The spots were a glimmer of the creativity the Super Bowl is known for. Ever since Apple unveiled its historic 1984 commercial, the year’s most-watched television show has been a showcase for far-out creative.

But this year, national brands played it safe.

Their tactics may signal tight-fisted times or evoke a desperate reach for normalcy amidst troubling national and international news.

Some brands, such as Levi’s and Cadillac, employed surrealistic time-travel techniques to prove they’ve long been part of American culture.

Others turned to celebrity plugs and “meta-commercials” – references to old TV shows and movies.

H&R Block employed Willie Nelson as spokesman. Hanes hired Jackie Chan. Visa joked with the sound-alike words yo, Yao Ming and Yogi Berra.

“As we get more into this cycle of media, it’s media joking about media. It’s just an inevitable part of our culture,” said Adweek critic Barbara Lippert, in a conversation before the game.

Others said pop culture is easy to relate to, a safe bet.

“It’s the People-magazining of the Super Bowl,” said Extra Strength’s Brad Harrison. “It’s all star power.”

The critics panned the Subway commercial featuring Jared dreaming of a new sandwich. Most couldn’t remember its contents a minute later.

Said Schiedt: “Jared has the personality of a doorknob . . . ”

” . . . a Subway sandwich,” Williams interrupted.

“Maybe it’s working,” quipped another onlooker.

And a Coors Light ad featuring the tall, blond twins drew groans.

“Selling beer to young guys through twins. OK, formula, done,” Harrison said.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/5038204.htm

Highlights of the commercial game

By David Hiltbrand

Inquirer Staff Writer

Timing was everything for Budweiser’s ad featuring Clydesdale horses. A zebra, officiating a football game between the horses, views a replay of the game. Coincidentally, the next play in the real game was challenged, and the official went to the replay booth.

The Super Bowl game itself is usually anticlimactic, as was last night’s rollover, which left us wondering who brought the bigger choker to San Diego: Shania Twain or Al Davis? But long after we’ve forgotten the final score, we’ll remember the TV commercials. In fact, a recent survey concluded that 40 percent of us watch the game primarily to see the ads.

The year’s biggest TV event is also a glorious, high-stakes showcase for Madison Avenue. With a television audience topping 100 million people, advertisers use the occasion to unveil their best and brightest. Of course, when you’re paying upwards of $2 million for 30 seconds of airtime, you’d better bring your A-game.

Humor was the hook for the best of the ads, as it always is. But perhaps it’s indicative of the troubled economic times that, overall, yesterday’s spots didn’t have the surprising bite we’ve come to expect on Super Bowl Sunday. Even the cleverest seemed to embrace the familiar.

The best of the night: The evening’s most inspired ad, for Pepsi Twist, served up pop culture with a wicked twist.

Ozzy Osbourne, the frazzled star of MTV’s hit reality show The Osbournes, is in the kitchen muttering to himself when his terrible teens, Jack and Kelly, walk in and reveal that they are the Osmonds, Donny and Marie. She’s a little bit country, and he’s a little bit rock and roll.

Ozzy wakes up in a cold sweat. It was all a terrible nightmare. He turns to tell his wife of his dream. But instead of Sharon, he finds that ’70s family-show icon, Carol Brady (played by Florence Henderson).

That twist is a homage to Bob Newhart. In the final episode of the Newhart show, Newhart awoke to find a previous television wife by his side. But it also showed how altered the TV family model has become.

(Last night’s commercials were big on tube nostalgia, even reviving Gilligan’s Island for mLife.)

Anheuser-Busch Inc., the game’s biggest ad buyer, had some fun with the NFL’s instant-replay rule.

Budweiser’s mighty Clydesdales thundered over snow-covered ground. The footage kept jumping back and repeating. Then, we saw a zebra peering into a video monitor on a field. Now we get it: The horses are engaged in one of their now-familiar pasture football games. And the zebra is studying instant replay. Two cowboys lean against a fence watching. One says, “This referee is a jackass.”

This spot was a clever story advance for an old campaign (as was the game’s updated flower-shop commercial featuring the Barber twins, Tiki of the New York Giants and Ronde of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers).

And what timing: The very next play in the game was challenged by Tampa Bay, resulting in the official scurrying over to the replay booth. Even $2 million can’t buy you a coincidence like that.

Reebok had a winner with a self-referential gridiron theme. As a CEO calmly describes how much production is up since Terry joined the firm, we see the aforementioned new hire. Wearing a football jersey, the bald behemoth lays bone-crushing tackles on a series of white-collar office geeks. Boom! Splat! Then he lectures them loudly on their transgressions: late reports, missed meetings, long-distance calls.

It’s Terry Tate, Office Linebacker, an exquisite blindside collision of the civilized and the barbaric.

Diet Pepsi, in a clever spot, managed to evoke youth, freedom and abandon – then snatched it away hilariously.

While a metal band hammers away on stage at a big rock festival, the crowd is sloshing around in the mud right in front of the stage. Down in the mosh pit, a guy covered in mud looks at the happy headbanger to his left. His jaw drops open. “Dad?” he says incredulously.

Best film teaser:Hollywood studios were snapping up Super Bowl ads as if they were beer nuts. Among some adrenalized eye-openers (Bad Boys II; Matrix Reloaded), the most intriguing was the commercial for The Hulk. The big guy looks absolutely awesome.

As you saw him tossing tanks as if they were throw cushions, you couldn’t help wishing the Raiders had been able to draft him with one of those picks they got for Jon Gruden.

The worst ads:Commercials at their best should surprise or entertain us. They certainly aren’t designed to repulse. But three spots last night managed to do just that. We have a three-way tie for grossest Super Bowl ad:

A clown comes into a bar upside down, walking on his hands, and orders a Bud Light. As the bartender and patrons look on with disgust, the clown puts the bottle up to his gluteus maximus. Yuuck!

We finally get to see why only four out of five dentists recommend Trident. The fifth was having his private parts attacked by a squirrel. Didn’t need that image.

A construction worker shows us how to use a Dodge Ram truck for the Heimlich maneuver, getting his coworker to disgorge a chunk of beef jerky on the windshield. The wrong kind of gag.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/856714.asp

MSNBC

The big game is over and it was not a super night for Oakland Raiders fans or for the commercials that aired during the Super Bowl. As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers dominated the game with a fierce defense, Madison Avenue played it safe, going for laughs with sophomoric sight gags and sitcom stars of the past.

WHERE WAS THE Ol’ razzle-dazzle? The Super Bowl, with its expected audience of more than 100 million viewers in the U.S., is the hottest ticket of the year for big-name advertisers, but this year’s parade of commercials could have used more flash and sparkle.

Anyone who has watched the last few Super Bowl would recognize the dumb guy characters in the numerous Bud Light ads or the long-running Visa campaign featuring some hapless famous person trying to cash a check without ID.

In its 90-second time-traveling ad Cadillac even recycled the same Led Zeppelin song that it used last year, as if the luxury-car company wanted to make sure they got their money’s worth out of the classic rock anthem.

In fact, the high-cost of buying time in the Super Bowl – an estimated $2.1 million for a 30-second spot – kept all but the largest ad players out of the game. Combine those factors with economic worries and war fears and the result was a “Ad Bowl” with few Hail Mary passes. There were no real downers, but no over-the-top splashy production numbers, either. At that price, no one wanted to risk producing a stinker.

OZZY AND THE OSMONDS

There were some breakthroughs.

The Osbournes may be perilously close to being over-exposed, but the 45-second Pepsi Twist commercial where addled Dad Ozzy has a bad dream was one of the few commercials to live up to the hype. In the ad, which Pepsi wisely kept bleep-free, Ozzy is struggling with a kitchen garbage bag when his teen-age children, Kelly and Jack, come in drinking the lemon-flavored Pepsi. They then turn into Donny and Marie Osmond and sing a few bars of the Osmonds theme song. At that point, Ozzy cries helplessly for his wife, Sharon, only to awake in bed with Florence Henderson, the mother from “The Brady Bunch.”

That the once fearsome Osbourne, the “Prince of Darkness,” has turned into a cuddly old coot, gamely playing along with the goody-goody former TV stars is an ingenious ironic twist.

Grizzled country legend Willie Nelson mocks his own tax troubles for tax preparers H&R Block in another of the night’s best spots. In the ad, Nelson has to make a shaving cream commercial in order to help pay for his accountant’s “little mistake” of $30 million in missed taxes. Nelson gives a quirky, humorous performance in the commercial-within-a-commercial, especially when he’s covered with shaving cream and pitifully wails, “my face is burning.”

NO BATTLING BIMBOS

The heat was on Anheuser-Busch, the night’s exclusive beer sponsor, to come up a knockout in its line-up of commercials for Budweiser and Bud Light.

That’s because the most talked about ad of the moment is rival Miller Light’s controversial new commercial, “Catfight”- the one with the impossibly buxom mud-fighting women.

But there were no battling bimbos in Bud Light’s roster. And Budweiser didn’t try to create a follow-up to its popular “Wazzup” catchphrase of two years ago.

Instead the brewery relied on silly sight gags, such as a guy in an upside down clown suit drinking a beer in a bar or the guy who goes into a bar wearing his long-haired dog on his head. Then there was the guy explaining to his dinner date why he needs three arms (so he never has to put down his Bud Light) or the guy who meets his girlfriend’s fat-bottomed mother for the first time, fearing that his girlfriend will have ludicrously huge hips in 20 years.

Judging from the commercials, guys who drink Bud Light are doofuses.

ANGRY GIANTS

The Reebok commercial featuring Terry Tate, a fictional 300 lb. linebacker who brutally tackles slacker office workers, had more energy than most of the other ads and was funny in a “ooh, that’s gotta hurt,” way. The violence is cartoonish, so it’s not going to make anyone smash their co-workers to the ground. But why the linebacker would make anyone want to buy Reebok products is unclear, unless it’s to be able to run away from him faster.

Comic book fans got the payoff of seeing the gigantic green monster swinging a tank in a teaser ad for “The Hulk,” the hotly awaited summer release from Universal Pictures. The computer-generated angry giant has been carefully hidden until viewers were treated Sunday night to several glimpses of Bruce Banner’s magnificently muscular alter ego.

The Internet career sites Monster.com and Hotjobs took different approaches in their commercials, but both featured blue-collar workers such as factory workers or tractor trailer drivers, not the types you’d normally expect to use the Web to find a new job. Yahoo’s Hotjobs ad featured wistful folks singing “Rainbow Connection” to themselves while they work, while Monster.com showed an 18-wheeler without a driver destroying a gas station.

AT&T Wireless revived the crew from the 1960s sitcom “Gilligan’s Island,” to show how quickly the castaways would have been rescued if they’d only had mobile phone service.

http://www.freep.com/news/mich/profs27_20030127.htm

BY JULIE HINDS

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

What did the experts think of this year’s Super Bowl commercials? In a word, eh.

The not-great, not-bad consensus came from Michigan State University’s advertising faculty, which gathered Sunday for its sixth annual review of the top ads.

The professors — Bill Ward, Bonnie Reece and Bruce Vanden Bergh, among others — gave good grades to Anheuser-Busch and Pepsi for doing their usual solid job. But in general, the MSU crowd wasn’t wowed by what it saw.

The buzzworthy 90-second Cadillac ad was deemed fine, but 60 seconds too long.

The Osbourne family ad for Pepsi Twist drew laughs, but it was a victim of its own hype. The commercial got so much publicity before Sunday’s debut, it didn’t pack much of a surprise.

The Sierra Mist ads earned praise for making a strong connection to the soda’s thirst-quenching message. The mutt playing havoc with a fire hydrant and the baboon who catapulted from his zoo pen into the polar bear pool both got passing marks.

The barfing beef jerky commercial for a Dodge truck, however, earned a resounding “eewwww.”

This year’s 30-second slots sold for between $2.1 million and $2.2 million.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

monster.com – Their ad against trucking stinks.

———————————————————————————

Response from a fan who has watched all televised super bowl games.
This is by far the worst and most ill conceived ad campaign ever. The
ads are more disappointing than the game.

———————————————————————————

As a Professional truck driver for the past 7 1/2 years, I was appalled
at the ad for Monster.com about the unmanned truck careening carelessly
damaging property and almost killing people. I suppose you knew you would
be getting letters like mine and I sure hope you get many more. With the
safety record we hold, all this shows the non-truck driver is we shouldn’t
be on the road. But! We do deliver everything you eat, wear, drive and
live-in. Monster. com should ride with a trucker to find out it’s not
an easy job to drive with alot of idiots on the road. I know it’s only
an ad to promote jobs for truck drivers, but why couldn’t they go to a
trucking company and just look at the empty trucks they have sitting in
the yard without drivers. You don’t need the Hollywood touch to make it
more exciting. Why didn’t they have an unemployed worker robbing a bank
because the place he used to work for, took away his unemployment benefits
and his wife and kids are home starving and are freezing with no heat.
I liked the ad with the talking sock. That was cute and I still remember
Monster.com did that one. Tell Monster.com to stay out of Hollywood and
get with the real picture–people ARE out of jobs and they should concentrate
with a better commercial for them, not to ruin the image of truck drivers
who have a hard time keeping a good name. I also wrote to Monster.com,
but I’m so upset about the commercial, I’ll write to everyone about it.
What they should have done was show a truck driver going for a random
drug and alcohol test and passing because he is looked up to by young
adults.

Thanks for listening.

———————————————————————————

Commercial re size of possible future mother-in-law, DISGUSTING.

Women should be checking out how the future father-in-law will look
later, after all it is mostly men drinking beer in commercials.

———————————————————————————

I THINK THE BUDLIGHT AD WITH THE CLOWN IS THE BEST.

———————————————————————————
more clydesdales, please, they are they best.

I can’t believe you don’t use them more.

I love the kick and the flip the coin, more of them please.

Thank you.

———————————————————————————

Bud clown

———————————————————————————

I vote Dexter Jackson for the MVP. Give up the Cadi’!!!

———————————————————————————

Budweiser Clydesdales

———————————————————————————

my choice af the super bowl ads is the Monster truck runnig wild

———————————————————————————

Pepsi with the Osbournes!

———————————————————————————

The best super bowl ad is the BUD one with the BIG BUTT

———————————————————————————

this was the best commercial of all, most were very stupid especially
the osbourns and there were two which were gross the beefy jerky in the
truck and the super bowl ring regugertation.

———————————————————————————

The best ad is BUd SUPER BUTT

———————————————————————————

Bud commercial about the hair. Dog placed on head

———————————————————————————

No doubt, hands down, the best commercial was the Bud Lite ad of the
guy dressed in the clown suit walking into the bar. A distant second,
but quite amusing was the guy who is about to meet his girlfriend’s mother.
Now there is a woman who when she has to haul ass, has to make two trips
…

———————————————————————————

My favorite commerical was the Sierra Mist commercial where the dog
kicked the cap off the fire hydrant.

———————————————————————————

The Levi ad with buffalo …..sucked. Please bring back the Whattssup
guys…. Or some more funny dogs. Budwesier Ads are always good.

———————————————————————————

I think that you should have forwarded the Fed Ex box onto the Oakland
Raiders team so they could use the cell phone to call for HELP and the
GPS to find the end zone!!

———————————————————————————

First Tn Bank Ads were the best over all

———————————————————————————

( 1 ) Budweiser ” No Pets Allowed” ( 2 ) Osbornes ( 3 ) Budweiser “Zebra”

———————————————————————————

Hey, I missed the survey, but I thought the Osbourne’s Pepsi Ad the
very best by far! Thanx for the ad list, as I checked them off as I watched
them.

Did the 3 armed beer drinker air? I didn’t see it.

———————————————————————————

I want Ron Felcher to bring Terry to MY office…..Great ad!!!

———————————————————————————

Miller Lite commercial is in BAD TASTE and I will rememebr not to buy
their product becuase of it.

———————————————————————————

Sierra Mist with the dog and fire hydrant. FUNNY!!

———————————————————————————

Hotjobs commercial might be one of the worst I have ever seen. Monster,
too. Why do they keep spending that much for crap?

———————————————————————————

I vote for the Bud ad with Clydesdales and Zebra.

———————————————————————————

I loved the Trident ad. It has to be the best one of the year, it was
“nuts”.

———————————————————————————

Budweiser: and Bud Light

———————————————————————————

First of all, let me confess that If I hadn’t been asked for a Minnesota
talk radio program to rate the superbowl ads, I probably wouldn’t even
have watched the game. But as long as I had to sit through it, and be
intelligent about it in the morning, I figured the least I could do was
to apply my scientific analysis skills to the exercise.

First thing I did was develop a proper, scientific metric based of course
on the ultimate objective of: would I want to buy anything from this company,
or have a relationship of any sort with the advertiser.

At the bottom of the scale was the Yuck factor. Ads that made me never
ever want to buy anything from the company again. Budweiser won this category
hands down. Their clown ad was not just dumb, but frankly revolting. But
that paled in comparison with the “Girlfriend and her mother” ad which
inspired me not to buy the product, but rather to call all my female friends
to join me in a nationwide boycott of Budweiser products. (Note to friends,
don’t even THINK of bringing Bud, Bud light, Michelob or any other Budweiser
product into my house.)

Only slightly higher up the food chain was the “Huh?” factor – otherwise
known as “You’re confusing creative with effective” These ads were more
confusing than memorable, and so clearly driven by agency creatives, rather
than anyone with a business sense. These ads may have been intended to
be humorous, but in so doing not only did they fail to promote their brands,
but more likely to have damaged the brand by mixing their messages.

Levis, the Busweiser Zebra ad,Gatorade/Jordan ad, Honda, Coors and Pepsi
all fell into this category. Monster.Com made the list because I really
couldn’t figure out why a truck blowing up a building would make you want
to go to a web site to look for a job. On a couple of them, I simply assumed
they must be targeted to an audience that might understand better than
I. But in that case, at $4 million a minute seemed a bit excessive just
to make the point that you were so hip that anyone over 18 doesn’t need
to understand your commercials.

One step up from the “What were they thinking” rating is the “So What”
category. Into this category were the ads that weren’t memorable or effective,
but at least they weren’t offensive.

Most of the trailers for upcoming movies and television shows went into
this category. My guess is that many of them wouldn’t be there if there
weren’t joint ownership between the television station and the movie studio
- regardless, after awhile they all blended together. Same thing for the
car ads. Nissan, Mercury, Chevy Trucks and Honda all failed to make a
lasting impression. Cadillac was borderline. Their ads were certainly
nothing that would make you sit up and take notice, but they were at least
frequent enough as to be memorable.

I figured you really couldn’t have more than five or six really great
ads, so the rest fell into a category that could best be called “also
rans.” They were memorable, and probably effective, but they just didn’t
earn the Superbowl ring.

The Sierra-Mist ads were a great example. Compelling ads, but I had
to go look up the sponsor – clearly lacking some branding. The Trident
ad was funny and memorable, just not stellar. Mastercard ads do a brilliant
job at building on their brand, but I didn’t think their debit card ad
was as effective as some of their others. W.B.Mason did a great job with
tying their brand to Perry Mason, but unless they couple the ad with some
other significant marketing effort, the one shot ad will not be remembered.

And the winner is – well actually, we’ll start with the runners up for
the Superbowl Trophy.

Honorable Mention goes to Visa for its ads that made fun of celebrities
and other who needed cash was brilliant, and also did an effective job
of getting its messages across.

Another Honorable Mention goes to the anti-drug ads, particularly the
one in the subway, It was so chilling and compelling and I can only keep
my fingers crossed that they had as much impact on everyone else as they
did on me.

In third place is H&R Block’s ad with Wilile Nelson was a terrific use
of humor plus celebrity plus strong tie in to brand and message – Second
place goes to Sony. My heart wants to Sony the first prize for the most
measurable ad. Viewers were asked to go to the web site to download the
song – a nice way to tie customer behavior with the ad. The ad itself
was terrific, great music and a way cool message, and in another year
would have won hands down. But this year the competition was just too
fierce.

And tied for first place (okay, I’m a Libra, I can’t make up my mind)
is Fed Ex and M-Life. Fed Ex effectively used humor to really get its
message across with its Fed Ex driver emerging from a desert island to
deliver a package. It clearly communicated the company’s positioning in
a highly memorable way and did a nice job of keeping the brand in front
of the viewer.

M-Life, that previewed its product line in a series of incomprehensible
ads last year wins both first place and “most improved.” Its Gilligan’s
Island and

———————————————————————————

I thought Reebok’s “Office Linebacker” beat all these others but you
don’t have it listed here. Why?? Get with the program!

———————————————————————————

reebock

———————————————————————————

we vote for the Ozzie Osborn ad for Pepsi Twist

———————————————————————————

Hanes Tagless TShirts with Jackie Chan! Hahahahahahhaha It was so funny!

———————————————————————————

They should be ashamed! There are far too many people who mistreat
animals in this world, we shouldn’t use that fact for humor. Quizno’s
showed their chief chef so absent minded that his parakeet died. I for
one won’t be eating at a Quizno’s any time soon!

———————————————————————————

I would like to vote for the FedEx commercial.

———————————————————————————

um……. the bucs won

———————————————————————————

My favorite ad was the ‘upside-down’ clown drinking a beer and being
refused a hot dog.

———————————————————————————

THE ADVERTISEMENTS YOU HAD ON STUNK. THEY WERE NOT ENTERTAINING. THE
HORSES WERE ABOUT THE BEST. HALFTIME MORE THAN STUNK AND I LOVE SHANIA
LOOKED LIKE A HOOKER THE OTHER BROAD LOOKED LIKE A JERK WANNA BE MADONNA
OR MARYLIN. IVE HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH A LOUSY SUPERBOWL. THE GAME WAS GREAT.
TELL THEM TO GET BETTER ADVERTISERS TRY A LITTLE MORE MATURE THEMES

———————————————————————————

Why was the company in the Reebok ad called “Felcher and Felcher” I
mean, isn’t that unnecessarily disgusting???

———————————————————————————

I really enjoyed the following: Reebok featuring Tery Tate and Tike
and Ronde Barber commercials.

———————————————————————————

Monster.com’s ad with the truck was alright…but the whole super bowl
was RUINED with that HORRIBLE “don’t smoke pot” ad involving the pregnancy
test…. Who comes up with these ideas? George Bush himself??? What a
bunch of CRAP!

———————————————————————————

I am so sick of hearing about the osbournes! Those animals are the scum
of the earth! They are totally sickening!! The media in this country want
to shove these creeps down our throats. I saw one TV news cast that referred
to them as ‘America’s Newest First Family’ America is NOT represented
by these foul-mouthed, burnt out drug addicted, no talent jerks!!!!!!

Put the osbournes where they belong – in the toilet, and flushed as
quickly as possible!

———————————————————————————

Hanes is my choice for best ad.

———————————————————————————

Clysdale football commercial was by far the best(Zebra,etc.)…..Almost
as good as last year re: World Trade Center with the horses bowing at
Liberty Island

———————————————————————————

My favorite ad was the teen-age daughter getting pregnant due to drugs
impairing her judgement. Along the same lines, I also vote for the ad
that showed a little boy playing baseball with his dad and getting older
- it was a “Talk to your kids about smoking…they’ll listen.” I was so
glad to see that all of the commercials weren’t advocating beer and sex.

Full-time student, waitress, and mother

———————————————————————————

The Terry Tate ad is a classic! Best Superbowl ad in years!

———————————————————————————

Terry Tate-Office Linebacker commercial

WAS The BEST!!!

I WANT to SEE MORE!!!!

The PAIN TRAIN has ARRIVED!! Totally AWESOME!!

———————————————————————————

It’s interesting how the superbowl advertising changed. 2-3 years ago,
the bowl was flooded with dot com hopefuls spending their last dime for
a spot. Thankfully all that crap is gone and the companies have returned
to advertising. Things were really bad in 1999 and 2000. THis year showed
some good old cleverness and humor across the board as well as some good
advertising. Use of music totally worked for some, like SOny’s remake
of CSN&Y’s “Carry On” for their Man in Space commercial and Cadillac’s
series of Led Zepplin’s “Been a long Time” spots. Lots of good animal
commercials including the king of ad animals, the Budweiser Clysdales
waiting for the Zebra replay. THe best animal of them all was no doubt
Terry Tate, Office Linebacker. Just when you thought commercials couldn’t
make you laugh anymore. “If it’s gametime, then it’s pain time! You know
what I’m talking about?!? Woooo!” Reebok definitely wins my vote this
year. My ranking:

1) Reebok “Terry Tate”

2) Budweiser “Replay”

3) Sony “Man into Space”

4) Sierra Mist “Fire Hydrant”

5) Sierra Mist “Monkey”

6) Hotjobs – “Rainbow Connection”

7) US Govt – “Subway Visit”

8) Universal “Hulk”

8) Mastercard – “Presidents”

10) Gatorade – “23 vs 39″

———————————————————————————

chexchecking with the very tall basketball player

———————————————————————————

Not as good as the usual fare….

———————————————————————————

I vote for the Reebok Commercial with Terry Tate

———————————————————————————

I Love Ozzy…and I Love Pepsi…Don’t like Football, but watched the
superbowl just for the commercials!!!

———————————————————————————

super bowl ad w Jordan I beg to differ. While it could have been better
produced, it was a GREAT idea and a good ad.

———————————————————————————

FedEx Castaway Spoof – Great concept, & hilarious!

———————————————————————————

The Ozbournes – Ozzie’s dream.

———————————————————————————

Hi, tried to vote on the Dogde commerical. Loved it during the Superbowl!

———————————————————————————

1. Bud – Zebra

2. Bud – Clown

3. Pepsi – Ozzie Osborne

4. Fed-Ex – Man on deserted island

———————————————————————————

I liked the Willie Nelson H & R Block Ad

———————————————————————————

Budweiser & Bud Light never fail ( Third Arm, Motormouth, etec.)! Their
ads were great. I also loved Visa Checks Cars with Yeo Ming. How you fail
with an ad featuring the Osbournes! Loved this year’s commercial’s!!!!!!!

———————————————————————————

IT WAS THE ZEBRA!!!!

the best ever…..

———————————————————————————

where’s the voting box for “Office linebacker” and the “wb (perry) mason”
ads? they were both worth watching.

———————————————————————————

i have many thoughts on the game and the commercials. i think that pitt
*my home team, may i add* should have been in the super bowl. we would
have killed either team. they both played horribly last night, with the
exception for tampa in the 2nd half. that was their come back. as far
as the commercials, THEY WERE GREAT! last year was a great dissappointment
for commercials, but this year they out did it. I personally liked the
one with the clown and the one with the ref. budwieser def. out did themselves
this year. the one commercial that i heard so much about *i was in the
darn bathroom!* was the one where a guy was set up on a blind date, and
they were like…’look at the mother, and thats what she will look like
in 20 years.’. well, if you saw it, you know the rest.

well, those are my thoughts, accept them or not, and im outta here.
peace

———————————————————————————

I would like to vote for bud clydesdales “Replay”

———————————————————————————

we liked the pepsi twist commercial with the osbournes and the osmonmds.

It really showed how far our society has changed in entertainment values.
Please bring back the good old days!

———————————————————————————

I liked the Zebra Ad

———————————————————————————

~From Tampa Bay, Florida – Home of the World-Champion BUCCANEERS!!~

The concensus at our Super Bowl party was that the BEST commercial is
one that is not even listed in your poll.

The Reebok “Terry Tate – Office Linebacker” ad got EVERYONE’S vote &
the biggest laughs of the game! We appreciated its creative depiction
of “Extreme Office Management.”

———————————————————————————

The top 5 were: 1)The 2 guys working out in the gym 2) the Football
tackler- Reebok 3) the girlfriend’s mother with e huge butt. 4) The Clydedales
replay.

———————————————————————————

The Quiznos ad has to be the worst ad I have ever seen. It has the bird
community in a up roar. People on hundreds of email list are planning
to boycott Quiznos for their showing of a dead bird that was starved to
death due to chef Jimmy. Why didn’t they use a dog or cat? Do they think
that people don’t care about birds? I for one will never again buy from
them.

———————————————————————————

toss up between reeboks office linebacker and bud lights clown……….

———————————————————————————

I thought the Sierra Mist commercials, specifically the one at the zoo
was brilliant as was the dog and the hydrant! Animals in any ad are always
a big plus for me. I would definitely try the product. Of course, the
Clydesdales were once again the #1 pick with me. Not only was it hysterical
but beautifully filmed. I hope to see it again during the Pro-Bowl.

———————————————————————————

That Rebok commercial with the football player in the office was the
best.

———————————————————————————

the fed x man is the one I pick

———————————————————————————

The best ads were the JEEP ads.

The dot com ads were really strange!

The worst ad was the truck with the guy choking and throwing up on the
windshield.

The one probably most insulting to females is the one with the “mother-in-law
to be” with the fat butt.

———————————————————————————

Sierra Mist!!!! So cool. I’m a mother and I socially drink, I thought
it was a beer commercial. The monkeys(?) turning into the seal thing and
being catapulted-too much. Congratulations to whoever thought that one
up.

———————————————————————————

that was a pitiful, pitiful game yesterday….I think seeing No Doubt
and Santana play were the high points…I miss the Whazzzzup ads, too!
On the plus side, it was a good excuse for me to lie on the sofa with
my feeties elevated.

———————————————————————————

More from our readers….

———————————————————————————

Dreadlock Dog was my favorite. It was not on the list. So Funny! I came
into the office talking about it this morning.

———————————————————————————

I liked the Zebra Ad

———————————————————————————

The top 5 were: 1) The 2 guys working out in the gym 2) the Football
tackler- Reebok 3) the girlfriend’s mother with e huge butt. 4) The Clydedales
replay.

———————————————————————————

What happened to the man with the dog on his head, and the upside down
clown?

———————————————————————————

toss up between reeboks office linebacker and bud lights clown……….

———————————————————————————

I thought the Sierra Mist commercials, specifically the one at the zoo
was brilliant as was the dog and the hydrant! Animals in any ad are always
a big plus for me. I would definitely try the product. Of course, the
Clydesdales were once again the #1 pick with me. Not only was it hysterical
but beautifully filmed. I hope to see it again during the Pro-Bowl.

———————————————————————————

That Rebok commercial with the football player in the office was the
best.

———————————————————————————

The Clydesdales playing football and waiting for review of instant replay
by the zebra was a scream!!! THE BEST

———————————————————————————

Bud Clydesdales and Zebra ref

———————————————————————————

I vote for the diet Pepsi commercial/Woodstock.

———————————————————————————

LOVED the Osborns ad, the Pepsi baboons and the Anhauser Busch zebra!

Thanks for the Superbowl laughs!

———————————————————————————

Feel free to add this to your Super Bowl Ad News links. http://fleetowner.com/ar/fleet_ad_monster_atas/index.htm

———————————————————————————

the fed x man is the one I pick

———————————————————————————

the upside down clown was the best

———————————————————————————

Come on guys, you can’t beat the one about the zebra for Budweiser!

———————————————————————————

Horses and Zebra the best.

———————————————————————————

osbournes, totally the pepsi one i loved it! It was so funny how you
got people totally different from the ousbournes to portray ozzy’s kids
and wife

———————————————————————————

great commericals and GOOOOOOOOOOOO BUCS A FL. FAN

———————————————————————————

Is it possible for you to send me a list of the first 20 commercials
that aired after the opening kickoff of the Super Bowl??

———————————————————————————

I’m in Canada and am dying to see all the great ads they block out here-
grrr- stupid crtc-.

———————————————————————————

I Liked the Yao Ming one. Also the 23 vs. 39 MJ one too.

———————————————————————————

I have had 2 wonderful Pulis (Sambo and Lizzie) and the standard comment
is “what’s on the end of your leash”. Thanks for keeping their memory
alive.

———————————————————————————

I REALLY want to see Bud’s spots too as I missed the game. Can you help
please?

———————————————————————————

Quizno’s Subs

———————————————————————————

The most creative and the funniest has got to be the morphing of the
Osbornes/Osmonds.

———————————————————————————

I have to cast my vote for Reebok and Terry Tate (is that his name?)
and the ESPN with Joe Montana was great too. (“Bling Bling!” hahaha).
I just have one question, am I the only one that saw the Bud Light Yoga
commercial? because its definately not on the USA Today poll, nor is it
on iFilms.com. I SWEAR I saw a commercial with two guys at a yoga class
watching all these hot women do their thing, and I thought it was a Bud
Light ad, but I cant find it anywhere; the Bud sites dont have a single
mention of it either.

———————————————————————————

1. Reebok – Office Linebacker 2. Bud – Instant Replay 3. Bud – Butt
Drinker 4. Bud – Dog Wig 5. Bud – Meet the Mom

———————————————————————————

How can I get a copy of the new superbowl ad from 2003….The clydesdale
ad…

———————————————————————————

Where is the commercial that involved a yoga class? That was my favorite!

———————————————————————————

tHe’s got my
vote for the best Superbowl commercial!! I loved the ad and i love Terry
Tate! Terry Tate is number 1!!!

———————————————————————————

Reebok by far had the best commercial. Why you might ask? Were not the
other commercials good? Yes, some were… but Reebok geared itself towards
the people watching the superbowl. Not everyone is a beer drinker, or likes
sierra mist, but everyone loves a good hit – and that’s what Reebok had – a
good hit.

———————————————————————————

I am writing for my college online magazine and we
are currently working on a story dealing with superbowl ads. We conducted a
poll throughout our school and found that the Reebok, Terry Tate ad was very
popular.

———————————————————————————

Yo Which commercial won????

———————————————————————————

I have to vote for Reebock Terry Taylor ad

———————————————————————————

The bud ad with the Zebra

———————————————————————————

the commercial about the office linebacker was definitely the best ad
during the superbowl. i was luaghing hysterically for like an hour.
thats it.

———————————————————————————

Best ads:

Three Michael Jordan’s

The Clydell’s

Worst:

Disgusting chocking ad

———————————————————————————

Howdy!
The Budweiser Clydesdales and the zebra ref is the best one. Thanks for
tallying these for us to enjoy!

———————————————————————————

Being in the food service industry, I thought the Quizno’s commercial was very, very funny…it reminded me of people I know that get so into creating the best recipe.

———————————————————————————

the horses and the zebra Budweiser

———————————————————————————

Came to the site looking for the NIKE ad which, it turns out, was during the PLAYOFFS.
So was the MILLER LITE ad.

These two were the best of the season, with the Super-Bowl BUD LIGHT mother-daughter one a close third.

———————————————————————————

Go Terry Tate! It is the #1 commerical I think.

———————————————————————————

My friends and i always rate teh superbowl commercials for the year and teh one we liked the best isnt anywhere on line- the one about the NFL and “Crazy” with Don Cheadle.

———————————————————————————

I am writing on behalf of 40 people to express our extreme disappointment
with the commercials during the super bowl game. We have a traditional super
bowl party with a group of friends and young people aged 14 to 25 years of
age. There are always young children present from 2 to 14 years of age. The
commercials bordered on x-rated. Scenes like those in some of the
commercials would definitely bring an R rating to a movie. Especially
disappointing were the ads for your movies after the game. There were 30-40
people present and ABC sure lost viewers due to this game. I will also be
contacting The NFL. Super bowl should be family oriented and fit for
everyone to watch!
Respectfully Yours

———————————————————————————

http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/diary/2003/01/27/super_ads/index_np.html

Brewskis, butt jokes and reefer madness

This year’s Super Bowl ads reflect a depressed nation: We need jobs, our animals don’t talk anymore and we’re terrified of big butts and bad drugs. How ’bout a beer?

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By Carina Chocano

If Super Bowl ads express the collective male mood, then this year they were like a monosyllabic grunt. Pepsi traded Britney for Ozzy. Honda featured boys who didn’t but said they did. Chrysler — in a move apparently calculated to have the same effect as thinking about baseball — featured Celine Dion driving a big, van-like thing and singing. Dodge wooed us with a close-up of regurgitated beef jerky. Anheuser-Busch achieved near-hegemony with a series of disjointed ads that ranged from gross to goofy to glazed and defeated. Aside from Coors’ suggestion that everybody just fast-forward to the booby portion of the familiar “twins” ad (and remember to thank the remote), sex was mostly just that thing blocking the TV.

Is it weird that the bad butt jokes outnumbered the bikinis? I don’t know. But between the rueful financial services ads, the wistful, down-to-earth job-board commercials, the histrionic, “Reefer Madness”-style public service announcements and the triumph of the beer-for-beer’s-sake ethos, a weirdly dispirited message emerged: Get a job, any job, because the fact that your stock portfolio sucks doesn’t mean you won’t be audited at any minute. So don’t smoke, don’t do drugs and – buddy, you look like you could use a beer!

Several advertising trends emerged last night, although it’s unclear exactly why. They went something like this:

When making a cultural reference, make sure it’s outdated and/or irrelevant.

Two ads borrowed heavily from feature films long-since available on video. An anti-drug public service announcement paid homage to the 1999 ghost thriller, “The Sixth Sense,” and a FedEx spot resuscitated the 2000 Tom Hanks one-man show “Cast Away.” Not to be outdated, a third commercial, for AT&T’s mLife, exhumed the 1964 hit show, “Gilligan’s Island.” Curiously, both the mLife spot and the FedEx spot riffed on the ways in which technology improves our lives. AT&T imagines what would have happened if Gilligan had owned a cell phone (he would have gotten off the island much sooner), and FedEx wonders what would have happened if the package the castaway neglected to open in the five years he was marooned had contained a satellite phone, a GPS locator, a water purifier and some seeds (he would have felt like an ass.)

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/5040298.htm

TOP COMMERCIALS CAME EARLY IN GAME

By Steve Svekis

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Someone figured Super Bowl XXXVII would be a blowout.

The NFL championship game was more competitive during the station breaks than on the field. Advertisers seemed prepared for a lopsided final score, as most of the attention-getting productions came in the first half.

Some huge companies, such as McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, took a pass on paying upward of $2 million for 30 seconds of air time. In stark contrast, Budweiser committed $23.1 million for 5 1/2 minutes.

Without further adieu, let’s award touchdowns — and toss penalty flags.

Touchdowns:

Budweiser kicked off the in-game advertising with some bang for its buck. The beer giant presented a fun spot that was a harbinger for the slew of offerings with animals playing a central role. The familiar Clydesdales reprised their ongoing Super Bowl football game, waiting for the results of a video review by a zebra.

The Ozzy Osbourne/Osmonds Pepsi ad? Yes to the doddering Prince of Darkness. Even Donny, Marie and Florence Henderson. But please, please, no more of Osbourne’s overexposed and under-talented progeny, Jack and Kelly.

FedEx continued cashing in on the product placement it enjoyed in the movie “Cast Away” as we see the Tom Hanks-type character deliver the package he has held for those years on the island. The recipient reveals the box held a satellite phone and other items that would have resulted in a quick rescue. Well done.

Visa featured Chinese NBA rookie Yao Ming in a New York pawnshop. The language-barrier issues made for a fun look. And Yogi Berra provided the right exclamation point. Yao. Yo. Yogi.

Other hits:

A frenetic and scratching Jackie Chan illustrating the impetus behind Hanes providing tagless T-shirts; a resourceful Bud Light drinker gets into a canine-free establishment with his dog as coiffure; Sierra Mist’s animals getting cooled off in offbeat ways; H&R Block’s ad making light of the notorious tax troubles of country crooner Willie Nelson.

The yellow flags:

Bud Light, despite its one witty ad, wasted a lot of money on insipid, dumb efforts — the upside-down clown, the mother and daughter, three-armed man.

Dodge Ram’s depiction of a choking man being saved by the acceleration and stopping of the advertised vehicle, replete with a graphic look at the projected choked-on meat, was in poor taste in more ways than one.

Quizno’s is working on a new logo, apparently. But any branding opportunity was probably lost in the vision of the manager working behind the counter minus his pants.

Monster.com had a puzzling 30 seconds spent showing a driverless 18-wheeler wreaking havoc.

And, for as much scrutiny as Miller Lite’s wrestling-women ad has received (they were absent during the game), there were other objectification ads that were in the same league, such as the one for Budweiser where the guy says he likes the woman’s roommate better, and she suggests he date both of them. Even the ABC house spots promoting the NHL All-Star Game and Pro Bowl came with the accompaniment of a few bikini-clads.

http://www.nj.com/newsflash/business/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?g0350_BC_MA–ReebokAd&&news&newsflash-financial

The Associated Press

CANTON, Mass. (AP) — Reebok Co. said Monday the $4 million it spent to broadcast its 60-second “Terry Tate: Office Linebacker” commercial during the Super Bowl was worth every penny.

The Canton-based footwear and apparel company said downloads of an expanded version of the commercial — which fared well in a number of relatively unscientific polls published Monday in which viewers were asked to rank commercials — were running three per second and totaled 140,000 by noon on Monday.

The ad featured a trash-talking, head-bashing linebacker named Terry who wreaks havoc around a generic office, blind-siding an employee who lingers too long on break and taunting him as if he were a sacked quarterback.

Reebok plans to roll out sequels in the coming weeks in which Tate rampages through a hotel where the service is unsatisfactory and recounts the origins of his career: as a street mime unable to contain his rage at ringing cell phones during his performances.

What does this have to do with selling shoes and apparel? Reebok’s chief marketing officer, Micky Pant, said in a phone interview Monday that the ad is intended to boost Reebok’s NFL apparel line (Tate wears a football jersey), but that the focus will shift to shoes.

“It was $4 million bucks,” he said. “But we reckon about 400 million people saw the Super Bowl. So it’s really a penny per viewer.”

Reebok shares closed down 23 cents, at $29.71, Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.

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On the Net:

http://www.terrytate.reebok.com/

http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,11188,00.html

by Lia Haberman

In the end it was all about the football.

How else to account for the record number of viewers who tuned in to Super Bowl XXXVII Sunday night? It certainly wasn’t for the hip musical guests or clever commercial spots, both of which were in short supply.

Nope, the evening’s big winners were the Tampa Bay Bucaneers, who trounced the Oakland Raiders 48-21, and ABC, which scored a ratings touchdown. An estimated 137.7 million pigskin fans plugged in to the Alphabet net for at least some portion of the game, according to preliminary Nielsen Media Research.

That means close to half the TV sets in country were tuned to the football game at any given moment, making Sunday’s match-up the second most watched Super Bowl ever, just behind the 1996 contest between Dallas and Pittsburgh. (That game, carried on NBC, drew some 139 million viewers.)

Despite the lopsided game (in which the Raiders were favored to win), the broadcast averaged 88.6 million viewers through the four-hour telecast, the best audience since Denver’s 1998 triumph over Green Bay.

Interest stayed high even during halftime, when viewers were treated to lukewarm performances by Barberella-esque Shania Twain and an insipid duet between No Doubt and Sting. (Not only did we pine for last year’s bill, which featured U2′s tribute to the victims of September 11, but we actually found ourselves fondly recalling the 2001 festivities when Britney Spears took the stage with Aerosmith.)

Even the evening’s commercials seemed to pale in comparison to years’ past when Internet startups blew their annual budgets on larger-than-life ads. However, the Osbournes’ twisted Pepsi spot didn’t disappoint, there were some interesting movie trailers (The Hulk, anyone?), a couple goofy beer ads (loved the zebra officiating the horse football game) and Trident finally demystified its four-out-of-five-dentists claim.

In fact, the biggest dip in viewers came during Tampa’s 34-3 lead between 9 and 9:30 p.m. ET, but, like the Raiders, viewers rallied for a better finish.

The evening’s real loser? No, not the Raiders, but Bon Jovi, whose postgame performance was cut short by a commercial. Instead of a global audience, the Jersey boys had to settle for the remainders of Qualcomm Stadium’s 67,603 fans.

Finally, even with the semi-naked promo spots that ran during the game, only 17.4 million viewers stuck around for ABC’s heavily hyped spy series Alias, which didn’t start airing until 11 p.m. ET–about two hours later than usual. Jennifer Garner’s sexy spin in red garters wasn’t in vain, though. The double agent’s adventures have only attracted an average of 9 million viewers this season, so last night’s numbers were an all-time best for the series, plus the show doubled its share of horny 18-49 year olds.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/2003/playoffs/news/2003/01/27/superbowl_ratings_ap/

Game draws second-largest TV audience

Updated: Monday January 27, 2003 4:04 PM

NEW YORK (AP) — This lopsided Super Bowl had the second-most TV viewers in NFL title game history: 137.65 million.

ABC’s telecast of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 48-21 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday registered a national rating of 40.7 — 1 percent higher than last year and the best since 2000.

That means an average of 40.7 percent of the country’s TV homes were watching at any given moment.

The viewership estimate, based on everyone who watched at least six minutes, puts Sunday’s game second only to the 1996 Super Bowl between the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers, which was seen by 138.5 million on NBC.

Last year’s game was watched by 131.7 million on Fox.

The Super Bowl is often the most-watched TV program each year, and nine of the 15 highest-rated shows in history are NFL championship games.

In 2002, the New England Patriots’ 20-17 upset of the St. Louis Rams on a final-play field goal had a 40.4 national rating on Fox. That tied 2001 for the fourth-lowest rating for a Super Bowl since 1972. Sunday’s game ranks 27th of the 32 Super Bowls since then; of course, cable and the Internet have lowered broadcast ratings in general.

On the other hand, because more people own TVs, lower ratings can still translate to higher viewership.

The 2000 rating was 43.2 for ABC’s telecast of St. Louis’ 23-16 victory over Tennessee.

Viewership was consistently high throughout Sunday’s broadcast, starting with 38.8 from 6:30-7 p.m. and rising to 41.5 by the end of the second quarter. Even halftime was popular, with a 40.1 rating from 8-8:30 p.m.

The audience — which advertisers paid ABC an average of just over $2 million per 30-second commercial to reach — dipped from 9-9:30 p.m., during which time Tampa Bay enjoyed its biggest lead, 34-3.

It was in that segment that officials reviewed a ruling that negated a possible touchdown by the Raiders with a little more than two minutes left in the third quarter.

As ABC’s broadcasters discussed whether the touchdown should have counted, play-by-play announcer Al Michaels said with a laugh to analyst John Madden: “Anything to hold an audience at this point.”

With about six minutes remaining in the game, Oakland wideout Jerry Rice’s touchdown cut his team’s deficit to 34-21, prompting Michaels to say, hope in his voice: “Well, for what it’s worth, at least the Raiders are CLEARLY back in the game.”

Indeed, Oakland’s mini-rally probably helped bring viewers back to the game. The rating rose a bit from 9:30-10 p.m., and hit its peak for the final 18 minutes, from 10-10:18 p.m., with 42.4 percent of the country tuning in.

“There was a significant interest in the game: the matchups, the coaching story with Jon Gruden,” said Neal Pilson, former president of CBS Sports and now a consultant. “And the game kind of rescued itself late in the third quarter, when Oakland scored a couple of touchdowns. We were headed for a real blowout.”

The record rating for a Super Bowl is the 49.1 that CBS got for San Francisco’s 26-21 victory over Cincinnati in 1982.

The good ratings for this year’s Super Bowl will benefit next year’s broadcaster, CBS, which will sell its ad time based largely on how many viewers were reached this time.

“The biggest benefactor is CBS,” Pilson said. “ABC doesn’t get a single nickel more or less.”