View From the Phlipside – Super Bowl ads

My name is Jay Phillippi and I’ve spent my life in and around the media.  TV, Radio, the movies and more.  I love them and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this The View From the Phlipside

The conventional wisdom has always held that it’s a good thing the commercials during the Super Bowl are so good because the game is usually awful.  In 2010 we can turn that on its head because the game was exciting and the commercials, not so much.

That isn’t to say there weren’t some good ones.  In fact I think one brand came away the clear winner in all of this for 2010.  Overall however I think this year was a flop.  The group of folks I watched the game with consisted of adults and middle school to early high school teenagers.  In the first quarter conversation would carry on during the game but come to a complete halt for the commercials.  By the second half the commercials were getting half hearted attention at best.  Not surprising really.  ALL the car commercials were a total snooze.  The Go-Daddy commercials have left the realm of sexy and suggestive to land firmly on stereotypical and sexist.  It’s really too bad that Danica Patrick who is trying to make her way in the very tough boys club of auto racing is doing such low brow cleavage commercials.  Might help if she won a few more races rather than trying to be racy.

On the upside past year contender for ad champion Bud Light had a couple pretty good ones.  That got erased by a couple pretty lame ones.  Other perrenial favorites did OK as well.  And my party was very much excited by the annual Budweiser Clydesdale spot.  It got good reviews in the room generally though I was lukewarm on it.  I personally love the e*trade baby spots and this year’s versions weren’t bad. Then you have KGB, a service that I’m still not quite clear on exactly what it is, but the “Bring it on Fat Man” spot was pretty funny.  Google had a pretty cute one too.

At the top of the heap however were two companies.  Snickers has to get a huge rating on the Betty White spot.  To be honest I thought Abe Vigoda was dead.  Betty White clearly remains the classic definition of “the trouper” when it comes to having fun with her own image.  My top grade for the whole Super Bowl has to go to Doritos however.  Over the last couple years they’ve always had some great spots.  My two favorites from this year have to be the little boy instructing his mom’s date about the rules concerning Mom and the chips and the dog collar one.

In the end I’ll remember this year’s Super Bowl more for the football than the commercials.  Who Dat!

Call that the view from the Phlipside