It's the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl as I'm writing this and I feel like I've seen enough commercials to detect a distinct pattern. It's not pretty. Seems to me the commercials have been more violent than in the past, including the cartoonish ones. What's up with that? I can only assume those producing the commercials decided to take their frustrations about the war out in supposedly more subtle ways.
Two guys who apparently love Snickers bars ripped off their chest hair. In a FedEx commercial, a poor fellow was creamed by a meteor. Bud Light showed a hitchhiker toting an ax and looking like a mass murderer, which, frankly, wasn't as scary as ETrade's depiction of a bank where the employees rip off customers and make them feel like they're in the middle of a violent bank robbery. At first I thought I was watching CSI.
I confess it struck me as a tad funny that Prudential's commercial "Like a rock" theme made me think for a nanosecond they said "Iraq."
I wasn't sure what to expect when I heard that Coca-Cola would make a comeback this year at the Super Bowl after an absence of several years, but I was delighted and pleased to see they went for the tender, sweet touch, harkening back to the days when they did the famous "Hilltop" commercial in which they offered to teach the world to sing.
Over all, I can't say I've been terribly impressed with the commercials this year. (The half-time show, however, was one of the best yet, IMHO).
Of course, not every company can afford the $2.6 million it takes to advertise for 30 seconds at the Super Bowl, which is why we have seen such a rise in companies turning to YouTube to grab viewers. A quick check of "2007 Super Bowl Commercials" on the YouTube search engine brought up several and the viewership on some is already pretty high. On the downside, a lot of the comments about the commercials are pretty snarky. At least during the big game, you only see/hear what others in your living room have to say.
This Super Bowl has been unusual in many ways, from the history-making first play (92 yard return for a touchdown) to consumer-generated commercials, to instant postings of commercials on YouTube.
There are now 6 minutes left in the game and it appears the Colts will win (YAY!). But the real winner, in my view, are the companies that got to try something new this year, whether or not it appeals to me personally. I'm eager to see how this shift from high-dollar, over-produced commercials to something more relevant to today's multitasking viewers turns out. What do you think?
Marilynn, I hadn't noticed the dark pattern until you pointed it out clearly in your posting. Thank you!
Instead, I was noticing the proliferation of idiots as "heroes" of the commercials. I suppose folks can laugh at them because they are CERTAINLY not like us. Or is the joke ON us? Whether these "stars" were pulling out chest hair, dreaming of fame as a rap singer, or stopping to pick up a beer-wielding pedestrian who also happened to be brandishing an axe, the ridiculous seems to rule the day.
In retrospect, I can't seem to remember any idiots played by "she-roes." Apparently advertisers believe women are clearly more sensible than men (and I am sensible enough not to argue with that!)
Posted by: Paul Johnson, Trouble Breaker #1 | February 05, 2007 at 10:40 AM
The one that got everyone I was with was the Budweiser commercial with the dog. It is lonely and sad, not the hero dalmation.
But the Hero dog was white and as it walked through the town it came upon a bad dog. The bad dog? Black & brown. Everyone in my living room started to talk about it.
While it worked easily for the story (covering a black dog with spots would have been a little Pepe Le Pew)we felt it was subtle racism.
***
Other than that Prince = Awesome! And the Robert Goulet commercial had me in stitches.
Posted by: Leah | February 09, 2007 at 11:01 AM